Have always worn contact lenses but now have to wear glasses--HELP

[Anonymous]

I always get an exam with a good doctor. I usually pick my glasses up at places like Hour Eyes or My Eye Doctor. They can follow a prescription just fine but I want a good doctor to do the exam.

[Anonymous]

OP, I have worn glasses since the ripe old age of four. Unfortunately, I am unable to wear contacts.

I go to SEE optical in Georgetown and ask the opticians there to help me find good frames. Over the last few years, they have found frames that look good on me, often choosing ones I would have missed if I were looking by myself. I used to ask a friend to come along, but found that the people who work there know their frames and how to choose frames better than we do.

They are not inexpensive, unfortunately, but they are knowledgeable, helpful, and make a painful expense less so.

[Anonymous]

OP, I wore contacts for a long, long time too but developed severe dry eye about 8 years ago and literally can not wear contacts for more than 30 sec before my eyes become very irritated. I did tear ducts plugs, Restasis, etc. to no avail. I am not a candidate for Lasik per my eye doctor uncle.

So, what I do (which is what my own parents refused to do for me) is buy a very expensive pair of glasses. I get the thinnest lens possible (my prescription used to be -10 but has gotten better to -8) and get titanium frames, which are so much lighter weight and a necessity when you have a coke bottle prescription like I do. The difference in frame weight, at least to me, has been amazing and makes wearing glasses so much more comfortable. I don't necessarily look to buy designer brand frames, but titanium is more expensive. All together, my glasses usually cost me about $700-800, which is mind boggling.

I like A Brighter Image in Dupont Circle. Evan and Ramiro, in particular, are excellent in helping find frames that look good with your face shape.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Er, sorry, that should be -8, not a smiley face.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've worn contacts for 25 years, and have only worn glasses at night at home where appearances don't matter. Now I have an eye condition that requires mostly wearing glasses. I really dislike how I look in glasses and am very unhappy about this forced change for the worse to my appearance. Could someone please help make me feel better about this? Also, any tips on where to get good glasses that aren't ridiculously expensive but where they do a good job (have heard negative things about places like Hour Eyes)? And how to choose attractive glasses, etc.? Thanks.

Two things:

1. I complained because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.

2. It isn't true that men never make passes at women who wear glasses.

If you need help about having to switch to wearing glasses full time, cheer up, with age this happens. Also, this is nothing more than vanity on your part. If Grace Kelly wore glasses and still looked beautiful and so do many women, myself included. I know because I have a mirror who tells me that, even with glasses--tri-focal, no less--that I am still the fairest of the land.

[Anonymous]

I actually wear my glasses pretty much every day, unless I'm going out at night (which happens rarely since having kids). I prefer glasses - my eyes get so dry with contacts. I LOVE my glasses and think of them kind of like a fashion statement - they show my personality. So think of them as an accessory, and have fun with it!

[Anonymous]

OP again: again, thanks to all. I love the idea of Costco optical and wouldn't have thought of that, so thanks! Also thanks to the PP who explained about the titanium frames, and to all of you who were helpful.

Two other things, to clarify: first, *of course* this issue is vanity on my part! I mean, any concern about appearance by anyone about anything is vanity, be it makeup or clothing or glasses or hairstyle or whatever. I don't consider harmless vanity to be evil. I'm not ashamed of wanting advice to figure out how to look decent with a change that I am not accustomed to and with something I don't know about. People ask all the time about what to do about gray hair, just as one example, and no one accuses them of being a horrible vain person just because they want to look their best and don't know anything about covering gray hair, and are unhappy with going gray. People ask all the time about how to look thinner or what have you, because they aren't used to their postpartum body, and no one tells them to "get over yourself" just because they ask for help with something appearance-related, and want to look attractive. (I could go on but you get the idea.)

Second, as for the "gee, this should be the least of your problems"/"no shoes vs. no feet" school of sanctimony, that reaction is exactly what I was referring to with my earlier post. I confess that I do find that tendency extremely tiresome; it happens all the time on DCUM, not just this thread, and I am kind of weary of it, which is why perhaps I earlier came across as overly annoyed with that. People are allowed to have non-pressing issues or concerns, even though others have it worse, and even if it is not a major, major hardship. Nowhere did I say this was my most important problem or that I was devastated at this, etc.; I simply asked for help with something that has come up that I could use help with. By the way of thinking of those particular PPs, no one should ever write in with any negative feeling at all, or any question/concern, and in fact we should abolish these boards altogether, because we are all better off than 90% of the planet's women. To go back to the gray-hair analogy, would you write in to someone asking about how best to color hair because she is unhappy going gray, and say to her, "Lady, be glad you even have hair, because I am going bald; I only wish I were worried about going gray, which should be the least of your problems." (Well, maybe some of you would, LOL, but I wouldn't.)

You know, people write in all the time about problems with their parents or in-laws. I am a former foster-child who has no parents. DH's parents have both passed away as well. But when people write in about these family issues, I never write back and say, "Well, just be glad you even have relatives at all and that your child even has grandparents." I *could* do that, of course, but why? I had severe problems with serial miscarriages. When others write in talking about how they are pregnant again quickly and are worried about having two very young children (for example), I don't post and say, "just be glad you can get pregnant easily and carry a child to term easily; I had to struggle with that, so stop complaining." Again, I *could* do that, but why would I? It wouldn't be remotely helpful, and in fact it is actually kind of mean to scoff at other people's innocent questions like that. Again, people are allowed to have legitimate questions even if they aren't in dire straits. I could go on, but you get the idea.

You can tell that this tendency on DCUM is one of my pet peeves. Mini-rant over.

Once again, thanks a bunch to all who helped. I am off to Voorthuis or Costco to check out some titanium frames. 'Night all.

[Anonymous]

OP, why are you even responding to the one uppers of tragedy? (How dare you complain about being itchy, when they are in pain? how dare you complain about being in pain, when they have no legs? etc). They're rampant here and it's best to ignore. When you engage, you start sounding snippy and lose your helpers.

If it makes any difference, I am probably heading your way soon. I am now wearing daily contacts (like, wear them a day and toss them) and I'm a bit guilty over the waste there. Plus, my eyes are getting drier. So, maybe I'll be in your shoes soon enough.

But I actually really like wearing glasses sometimes (I prefer to have a choice, of course).

Does it help to know that for the past 15 years or so, glasses have been slowly becoming more of a fashion statement and accessory? Look at any jcrew catalog and you'll see the models wearing glasses. They sell glasses for people who don't need them now - with clear lenses and no vision correction. I know, right?

I have a really nice pair of chanel glasses I got a few years ago. I think they're perfect for my face. A colleague once told me (innocently, but yeah, probably out of line) to not take it the wrong way but I look really hot in glasses. (ha ha). So, find a pair that make you like the way your face looks, and you might like glasses after all.

PLus, you can always take them off when you are sitting down at a table, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again: again, thanks to all. I love the idea of Costco optical and wouldn't have thought of that, so thanks! Also thanks to the PP who explained about the titanium frames, and to all of you who were helpful.

Two other things, to clarify: first, *of course* this issue is vanity on my part! I mean, any concern about appearance by anyone about anything is vanity, be it makeup or clothing or glasses or hairstyle or whatever. I don't consider harmless vanity to be evil. I'm not ashamed of wanting advice to figure out how to look decent with a change that I am not accustomed to and with something I don't know about. People ask all the time about what to do about gray hair, just as one example, and no one accuses them of being a horrible vain person just because they want to look their best and don't know anything about covering gray hair, and are unhappy with going gray. People ask all the time about how to look thinner or what have you, because they aren't used to their postpartum body, and no one tells them to "get over yourself" just because they ask for help with something appearance-related, and want to look attractive. (I could go on but you get the idea.)

Second, as for the "gee, this should be the least of your problems"/"no shoes vs. no feet" school of sanctimony, that reaction is exactly what I was referring to with my earlier post. I confess that I do find that tendency extremely tiresome; it happens all the time on DCUM, not just this thread, and I am kind of weary of it, which is why perhaps I earlier came across as overly annoyed with that. People are allowed to have non-pressing issues or concerns, even though others have it worse, and even if it is not a major, major hardship. Nowhere did I say this was my most important problem or that I was devastated at this, etc.; I simply asked for help with something that has come up that I could use help with. By the way of thinking of those particular PPs, no one should ever write in with any negative feeling at all, or any question/concern, and in fact we should abolish these boards altogether, because we are all better off than 90% of the planet's women. To go back to the gray-hair analogy, would you write in to someone asking about how best to color hair because she is unhappy going gray, and say to her, "Lady, be glad you even have hair, because I am going bald; I only wish I were worried about going gray, which should be the least of your problems." (Well, maybe some of you would, LOL, but I wouldn't.)

You know, people write in all the time about problems with their parents or in-laws. I am a former foster-child who has no parents. DH's parents have both passed away as well. But when people write in about these family issues, I never write back and say, "Well, just be glad you even have relatives at all and that your child even has grandparents." I *could* do that, of course, but why? I had severe problems with serial miscarriages. When others write in talking about how they are pregnant again quickly and are worried about having two very young children (for example), I don't post and say, "just be glad you can get pregnant easily and carry a child to term easily; I had to struggle with that, so stop complaining." Again, I *could* do that, but why would I? It wouldn't be remotely helpful, and in fact it is actually kind of mean to scoff at other people's innocent questions like that. Again, people are allowed to have legitimate questions even if they aren't in dire straits. I could go on, but you get the idea.

You can tell that this tendency on DCUM is one of my pet peeves. Mini-rant over.

Once again, thanks a bunch to all who helped. I am off to Voorthuis or Costco to check out some titanium frames. 'Night all.

Thank you, Lord, for small favors as there was nothing mini about your rant.

[Anonymous]

I recently got a pair of frames at the voorthius (sp?) on new Mexico near AU. One of the admin people helped me pick out the frames, and spent quite a long time with me doing so. The doctor also mentioned that both this person and another woman in the office are good at helping with it. I told her that I wanted whichever frames "I looked prettiest in." I'm really happy with the ones we found. Mine weren't super cheap, but after 5 years of not getting new frames, I was willing to spring for a pricier pair. I feel that if I'd asked to stay in a budget, she would have been happy to do so (although I'm not sure if their selection runs to the more expensive stuff). I'd definitely recommend them (and a lot if the yelp reviews also mentioned that they were helpful in picking out frames).