Dear LPG, 

This is the second time that I have felt the need to write to you about what the eye can see. Earlier in the year, I homed in on the fact that full time wearers often don’t clean them as much as they should but in some parts of the western world, today is National Eyewear Day and I have been eye-inspired again. 
   

The internet informs that we are likely to need a pair at some point as we get older although I started wearing glasses when at school, and unlike my brother, whose eyesight got better, mine didn’t.   I remember feeling quite special back then.  For some reason I got it into my head that they hid my whole face and that I could make all those give-away facial expressions without anyone else noticing, but I soon learned that that was not true.  When I got to my late teens and early twenties vanity set in.  Many is the time that I got on the wrong bus because I could not see the number properly, I then went a long way before working it out because I could not see which way the bus was going either.   But the irony is that, in my older age I just put them on and get on with it, but I now have older friends who are being told that they need to get used to wearing them for at least some of the time unless they decide to use contact lenses or take a good look at a laser treatment.  From what I have observed, choosing a pair for the first time, because you must, is a bit of a worry for most and I was recently asked by another friend who has received this news for the benefit of my advice because of my long history of glasses-wearing experience, but I don’t have any to give.

I did a bit of research and here is a nugget of information that surprised me.  While I could not find an English statistic, I found a somewhat interesting fact on the internet the other day.  Apparently, sunglasses aside, about 19% of Americans who wear glasses, wear them not because they need to, but as a fashion accessory?  I can’t find any equivalent English statistics but where they go, we often follow trend-wise.  Apparently more and more young people wear clear ones to make them look more intelligent, hide some facial detail or just look ‘cool’.  

I suspect that I am not the only full-time wearer of glasses to mention that I always find the saddest thing is that, when I try the frames and look in the mirror, I can’t see what I look like anyway because of my own short-sightedness and that is  always a bit hit and miss, but if you are being told for the first time in your life that you need to get a pair, while how much better you can see is important, I suppose how they make you look must also be on your mind when you are faced with the many trays available in the shop. 

I found a bit of internet advice that might help, whether you need a new outlook or you might just want to look ‘cool’ too.

NK, New Cross.

NK shares some insight into looking good in glasses…

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… and a little information about the day itself… 

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