There are 166.5 million US adults wearing Rx eyeglasses and an estimated 45 million people in the U.S.  wear contact lenses. Ultimately, what's best for you depends on your lifestyle and what our eye care doctor recommends based on your eye health and vision needs. The benefits of both glasses and contacts are discussed below.

What are the benefits of wearing glasses?

Glasses have been around for decades.

Following are some of the benefits of wearing eyeglasses:

• It's easy to put them on and take them off.
• You are less likely to contract an eye infection since you don't have to touch your eyes while putting them on,
• You can also coat your glasses with a variety of different coatings.
• You can place transition lenses on your glasses so that they become darker when you are outside.
• You can place an anti-glare coating or UV protection coating on your glasses which will not only help protect the inside of your eye, but also your external structures.
• Blue blocking filters can also be put on your glasses.
• The top reason why glasses are great is that  they can also be an excellent fashion statement or fashion accessory.

What are the benefits of wearing contact lenses?

We have an advanced contact lens center providing the full scope of contact lenses for all ages. With the recent advances in contact lenses there are truly so many options for every age, lifestyle, and most visual conditions. Contact lenses are also a great option.

Wearing contact lenses has the following benefits:

• The great thing about contacts is that since they sit directly on your eye, your peripheral vision is not distorted. The benefit of this is especially great for patients who are more athletic and are really into sports. Unlike glasses, contacts do not hinder your peripheral vision by the temples of the frame.
• Many patients experience fog when wearing their masks and glasses at the same time, particularly after the pandemic. Many of my Dr. Pinkhasov’s patients switch to contact lenses so that they won't have to deal with their glasses fogging up when wearing masks.
• Contact lenses are also very good for people who don't like the way their glasses look on them. By wearing contacts, you can increase your self-esteem and feel better about yourself.
• There are some specialty contact lenses that not only improve vision, but also treat various ocular conditions. For example, those who wear hard contact lenses for myopia management will be able to achieve a clearer vision while also being able to slow down their minus prescription. Another example is patients. It also helps to improve your overall quality of life because it reduces the risk of getting various types of ocular diseases down the line.
• Specialty contact lenses, such as scleral lenses, can help alleviate dry eye symptoms and provide clear vision.
• There are contact lenses that are ideal for someone who is interested in LASIK but is concerned about eye surgery. OrthoK lenses are a great option as they are worn while sleeping and gently reshape the eyes at night, leaving the patient with great vision all day without the need to wear contacts or glasses.

Conclusion: Glasses or contact lenses?

Glasses and contacts both have many different benefits. It is important to note that there are various drawbacks or various factors that you need to consider depending on which route you go on. Contact lenses require a lot more maintenance, although daily disposable lenses are by far the easiest to maintain. However even daily lenses require more responsibility than glasses, as it is critical to maintain proper hygiene and follow the instructions of your eye doctor when wearing contact lenses. Therefore, for children that are considering contact lenses it is important to ensure that they are more responsible and mature enough to take proper care of their contact lenses. If you do not take care of your contacts properly or wear them longer than recommended, then you will be more likely to contract a variety of eye conditions, some of which may even be sight-threatening.

For example, if you wear contacts every day for multiple days, you're more likely to get eye infections, whereas glasses don't have that problem. Another example is exposing contact lenses to water from the shower, swimming pool or tap, which can lead to eye infections.