Monday, 25 March 2013

The pros and cons of wearing prescription contacts


While cooking dinner last week, I noticed I wasn't tearing up while cutting onions. Granted, 'tearing up' is a bit of an exaggeration, but, to clarify, I was completely unaffected. Then it dawned on me: I was wearing contact lenses.

Then, because I've worn them for seven years, and because cooking was relatively unexciting, I thought of a pros and cons list for wearing said lenses!

Pro:
Since you're wearing something non-human in your eyes, you become slightly less human yourself, and slightly more cyborg... and therefore more awesome.

Con:
You're 5 times more likely to get an eye infection - 15 times if you sleep in your contacts.

Pro:
You acquire a moderate resistance to tears while cutting onions. (Cut onions with confidence!)

Con:
They cost you about $250NZD/year, $350 counting the stuff you put them in when not in use, $420 counting the recommended annual check-up.

Pro:
You get to enjoy 20/20 vision without the blurry border, a la glasses.

Con:
Applying and removing them (each) requires an extra minute out of your day.

Pro:
Instantly obliterates the common fear of touching one's own eyes. (Touch slimy surfaces with confidence!)

Con:
Deciding which side is up can occasionally be a pain (literally).
There are two methods to tell whether or not you have them in the right way.

1) Sight
If they're inside-out they look less like a bowl and more like a pitcher plant.

2) Touch
The pitcher plant is carnivorous, much like the Venus fly trap, or the inside-out contact lens. If method (1) doesn't work for you (and there are days where the visual difference is so minimal you end up guessing), then the subsequent sensation that your eye is being eaten and/or stabbed by daggers will no doubt eliminate the ambiguity.

Of course, if you don't experience this feeling, then you can rejoice, because it means you guessed right! 
All in all, you can't go wrong.

Pro:
If one falls out (or you only wear one for whatever reason), you can see clearly and blurry all at once! But that's not all. If you shut one eye, everything's perfect; if you shut the other eye instead, everything's fuzzy! Not bad if you're bored on the bus ride home.

Con:
If one falls out, that's a loss of $18.

2 comments:

  1. Pro: When you open the oven while cooking, you can actually see what's inside straight away! No waiting for your glasses to de-fog!

    Pro: Walking in the rain and not needing your own mini-sized windscreen wipers! Yay :)

    Pro: No need to constantly push your glasses back up into a good position.

    Pro: Lack of smudgy spots, dust or water drops in front of your eyes that need cleaning.

    Pro: You can hug people without your glasses going wonky on your face. It's the little things.

    ...Ok, so I didn't follow your format of Pro/Con, but I just had lots of pros! :) Yay for contacts!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good points. I was generally going for pros/cons that juxtapose wearing contacts with not wearing anything, as opposed to wearing contacts compared with wearing glasses.

      Delete

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