nvi-corrected-vision
90% of the population of the USA, will at one point or other begin to wear glasses.

[2.1] What do glasses do to the eye?

It is common experience that wearing contacts and glasses worsens unaided sight.

Glass and plastic lenses in spectacles and contact lenses interfere with the transmission of light. Color is always more intense when seem with the naked eye than with any lens. It can be argued that since color is a major part of the perception of form it follows that in small to medium sight defects form is not as well perceived with glasses. Secondly its possible that glasses actually agravate the eye, by constantly maintaining a degree of refractive error which otherwise would not be there, particularly while in eccentric focusing.

The strong concave glasses required by myopes of high degree make all objects seem much smaller than they really are, while convex glasses enlarge them. Patients with a degree of astigamitism can suffer some very disagreable sensations when they put on glasses. Usually these difficulties are overcome, but often they are not, and it sometimes happens that those who do overcome them during the day never succeed in getting used to them at night.

All glasses contract the field of vision to a greater or lesser degree. Often glasses cause annoying nervous symptoms, such as dizziness and headache, and the frames also interfere with peripheral vision.

Many Russian civilians during WW2 were known to wear negative diopter lenses for several days prior to visual examinations in compuslory enlistments in order to easily fail the tests.

[2.2] But don’t glasses give me perfect vision already?

No. Refractive abnormalities are continually changing from day to day, from hour to hour, and from minute to minute. A fact that is easily verified by personal observation. Thus the accurate fitting of glasses or contacts is, of course impossible.

The difficulty of keeping glass clear is one of the minor discomforts of glasses, but is nevertheless a most annoying one.

Likewise reflections of strong light from eyeglasses are often very annoying, and in the street may be very dangerous. Expensive coatings are needed to reduce these effects. In so doing, they reduce the brightness of colors. These coatings also require special cloths to clean, and they scratch easily requiring a hardness coating. Many people have great difficulties with glasses because of the activity of their lives, which not only leads to the breaking of the lenses but often throws them out of focus, particularly in the case of eyeglasses worn for astigmatism.

Contact lenses are difficult to clean and maintain. They are often dropped and lead to various eye diseases if not scrupulously cleaned. Astigmatism is often corrected poorly, due to the lens rotating on the eye. Even the most permeable contacts deprive the eye of oxygen and frequently capillaries begin extending into the cornea as a result. Extended wear lenses are notorious for causing infections and complications.

The progression of myopia often means that a perfect prescription is quickly inadequate and the the patient spends most of his or her time with a noticeable amount of refractive error. (In fact, most optometrists undercorrect myopia to begin with — contrary to popular belief, 20/20 vision does not mean 100% of the human visual potential, but the average acuity of people living during the time the standard was established.)

In an emergency spectacles and contacts often become a serious hindrance. Droped or broken glasses often aggravate any already difficult situations.

[2.3] Are compensating lenses addictive?

Yes. The lenses generally prescribed by classical optometrist are called compensating lenses, in that only compensate for refractive errors, and have no therapeutic value. In a progressive myopic the lenses quickly become a total addiction.