What I’ve Learned About Wearing Glasses Every Day for 20 Years
This post is sponsored by Lookmatic where you can buy stunning eyewear online at amazing prices.
I started wearing glasses about 20 years ago during my senior year in college. Throughout the years many of my classes were often held in this same one very large auditorium with stadium seating. My first year, I sat in the back row. The following year I was wondering why the professors were now using the cheaper brand of chalk and I was having a harder time reading their writing. And, each year I would move down a dozen rows until I was basically in the front row during my senior year. By then I realized that it wasn’t the crappy chalk but my deteriorating eyesight. I was nearsighted.
Ever since, eyewear has been a part of of my daily life. I’ve never tried contact lenses and haven’t had a desire to, either.
This is what I have learned about wearing eyeglasses over the past 20 years:
Own Your Look
Look to the right hand of the screen. See the “author box?” My cartoon avatar is there. Without so much as a conversation with the artist, he illustrated me and made eyewear clearly part of my signature look. Over the years I have embraced it with gusto. In past years, I went with slimmer glasses. But, now I prefer eyewear that is bolder, with larger frames. I’ve never gotten more compliments.
Don’t Get Stuck in a Rut. Instead, Experiment.
I’ve only now started to get more specs into my eyewear rotation. I was lackadaisical about getting new glasses, only getting a new pair every 5 to 8 years. BORING. Also, until very recently, prescription eyewear was a very expensive purchase, with a pair of glasses costing at least several hundred dollars. For example, prescription glasses through our sponsor Lookmatic.com start at $95 per pair. And, all of them are uber-stylish. Plus, you don’t need to get your tushie to a retail store. You can try on eyewear virtually (and, share your picture with your friends on Facebook and have them help you choose, too) and then order and purchase online. At such a good price point, I can have a few pairs in rotation for the price of what one pair cost in the past.
Everyone Needs to Get Their Eyes Checked at 40
Prior to getting my optical prescription updated for these new frames I’m wearing here, I had last visited the ophthalmologist two years ago. He surprised me by announcing that my prescription had stayed the same over the past 15 years. But since that conversation, I’ve turned 40. And virtually overnight, I found myself doing that tell-tale move where you adjust a newspaper or a book away from your eyes, to arm’s length, in order to focus them better.
I knew I needed to get my eyes rechecked and discovered that everyone, starting in their early-to-mid-40s, develops presbyopia which is the gradual loss of your eyes’ ability to focus on nearby objects. It’s just a natural part of aging and continues to worsen until you’re 65. It was explained to me that during your 20s and 30s your eyes change very little, and then when you hit 40, it’s a rapid decline.
Presbyopia is corrected with nonprescription reading glasses, prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses. Since I already had a prescription for nearsightedness, I customized this pair of Ricky eyeglasses by Lookmatic with what’s called progressive lenses, which are basically bifocal lenses but without that line through the middle. The upper part of the lens is to help me see what’s in the distance and the lower part helps to correct for my naturally aging eyes.
The silver lining here? I’m totally giving myself permission to buy a pair of prescription sunglasses. I need it to soothe my aging ego and the optometrist told me I need to protect my eyes from sunlight. (If this is the most extravagant midlife crisis purchase I make, I think that’s pretty good.) Checkout the Marlowe sunglasses (with its fantastic price), as that’s the pair I’m coveting.
Now, it’s your turn. Tell me, do you wear prescription glasses? If so, what have you learned? I’m a Want-To-Know-It-All.
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Thank you to our sponsor Lookmatic. Our sponsors help make this site possible.
Photos are by my talented friend Jessica Shyba of Momma’s Gone City. Thank you, wonderful lady.
