I'm not yet 50 but can't wear contacts anymore due to dry eyes/infections, and I totally agree with you about the fact that wearing glasses causes me not to wear makeup. Or jewelry either. I hate it.

Have you considered vision correction surgery? My mom did it at age 50 or so, and had one eye done for distance and the other done for reading. This was 20 years ago, and she still says it was the best thing she ever did in her life. I'm not a candidate because of the dry eyes/infections.

I switched to daily contacts and it made a huge difference. Wish I had done this years ago. If you have a problem with dry eyes, Accuvue Moist can help.

55 and wear progressive lenses - work well for me.

I'm not yet 50, but I have bifocal contacts, and they work great except for really, really small print. I wore monofocal (one distance, one near) contacts for years and I didn't like them as well as the bifocals. I had a hard time with driving at night with the monofocals; my depth perception was off. I much prefer contacts to the progressive lens glasses I wear at night.

As for dryness, I use Restasis because of chronic dry eyes. It has been really great. Over the counter moisture drops and even the ointments didn't work for me, but the Restasis does, and I can comfortably wear my contacts all day.

My coworker told me that she can't wear contacts bc of hormonal changes due to menopause. Anyone able to wear them after menopause?

I am 50. I have been wearing bifocal lenses for a few years. They are not great, b/c they give you less than perfect far and near vision, but they are definitely worth a try. It drives me nuts to have to reach for reading glasses every time I need to read something. I don't always have them handy. I wear so many different hats during the day (as I'm sure many do), it is not like I sit at my desk for 8 straight hours reading and then don't read at all the rest of the day. Lately the bifocal lenses have been bothering me and I wear them only for 6 or 8 hours. I understand that in menopause your eyes can be drier. And the bifocal lenses are thicker than one day disposables. So I just wear the bifocal contacts when I am going out or playing sports, and wear by bifocal glasses at home. I don't bother with makeup anymore either (I work from home), but it's not because of glasses -- just one less thing to do each day!

54 years old. I do same as 14:17 - contacts and drugstore magnifiers for reading and computer usage.
Don't give up!

I wear contact lenses all day long and add reading glasses for reading and working with a computer.
This works well for me.

I'm in my mid-40s, have two young kids. I'm quite nearsighted. Before kids I wore contact lenses--much more flattering on me then glasses. But now I wear glasses all the time because I can't read with contacts. (Too farsighted. Glasses work better but it's getting worse--sometimes I need to take off the glasses to read fine print. Somehow I can still read up really close.)

Because of the glasses and general stress of having young kids, I don't even bother with makeup anymore. What do others do? Do progressive (bifocal) contact lenses work? (I've heard often not.) Do you wear regular contacts for nearsightedness and use reading glasses as well? Help! I would really like to feel attractive again.