"Fake" or Nonprescriptive Eyeglasses

Nurses Relations

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I know a man in nursing school who wears glasses for accessory and not for medical need. He told me he began doing so when he started working as an aid in a local hospital. He says that he believes people take him more seriously when he wears his glasses than not.

I have known him for years and never would have guessed that his glasses were not a prescription; those days he came in without them I assumed he was wearing contacts. Now I look around me and wonder how many other hospital staff are also wearing glasses for reasons other than poor eyesight.

I did have a colleague who was splashed in the eye with gastric juices when performing a G-tube feeding, and he said his glasses helped deflect some of the material. I don't need them, and I find myself pondering the benefits.

Those of you who wear glasses, do you find they are protective? If you wear both glasses and contacts, do you notice you make different impressions on others depending on your choice? Is there anyone who wears glasses and can admit to perfect vision?

I just got a new pair of prescription glasses. But for some reason a lot of people come up to me and compliment me on them and ask me if they are real. I have worn glasses since 3rd grade. My boyfriends sister actually wears glasses that look like they are from the 80s without any lenses. WTH who does that??

Specializes in CVICU.

I have needed corrective lenses since I was 8ish. When I was 12, I started wearing contacts. Have not regularly worn glasses since, so I cannot comment on how people treat me. Let me tell you though, that when I think of someone wearing non-prescription glasses, I automatically think 'hipster'. Why wouldn't someone just wear safety goggles if they don't need corrective lenses?

Also, a bit off topic, but I can bet you that every person who needs corrective lenses would die to not have to have them. It would be nice if I could wake up in the morning and not worry if my contacts are going to screw with me and put me behind schedule, or to be able to dive into a swimming pool and a) still be able to see and b) not worry if my contact was going to be knocked out of my eye. I got fatigued swimming across a lake a few summers back and couldn't keep swimming, so I started to drown. After going under the first time, my contacts got knocked loose and my vision was extremely blurry which just made the panicky situation that much worse. If I wake up in the middle of the night to a fire, and can't find my glasses or get to them in time, then I will be left hoping I can find my way out without running into things or getting burnt with the odds not in my favor. When I am driving down the highway and my contacts suddenly start bothering me (yes, this actually happens), I have to either grab my portable bottle of eye drops and try to drop them in my eyes while going 70mph, or rip them out of my eyes (and when your contacts are irritated, they hardly ever come out easily, ironically) and fumble for my glasses in my center console. Having poor vision SUCKS. /endrant

Look smarter? Well geeze, at the end of a long day when I've reading glasses stacked on top of my bifocals I must look like a Nobel Laureate.

Specializes in Trauma-Surgical, Case Management, Clinic.

Just last week I was telling my friend at work that I wanted a pair of character glasses. She gave a confused look and asked why. I like the look they give.

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Just last week I was telling my friend at work that I wanted a pair of character glasses. She gave a confused look and asked why. I like the look they give.

​Oh no! That makes you a "hipster," so that means you can't be a member here! ( ;) )

I wear prescriptions lenses. However I really have thought about getting LASIK and wearing non-prescriptions. I like the way I look with glasses but not needing them would give me the options to own lots of them and not worry when they get broken. Most likely I will do this within the next year. Work offers a discount! If that makes me a hipster, whatever. I have been rocking frames since middle school.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I'm going to fess up.....after one too many spit in my eye from obnoxious drunks....I wore clear lenses to keep hockers out of my eyes.

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I'm going to fess up.....after one too many spit in my eye from obnoxious drunks....I wore clear lenses to keep hockers out of my eyes.

Oh no! The list of hipsters keeps growing!

My boyfriends sister actually wears glasses that look like they are from the 80s without any lenses. WTH who does that??

And why the hell would you want to?

Those old glasses were so big and hideous!

But, hey...

If she wants to wear glasses she can see AND eat through at the same time, all the more power to her.

Ok, I want to start by saying that I am answering the original post. I'm not trying to add fuel to the fire.

I recently needed to start wearing glasses and I do feel more confident with my glasses on. I have bags under my eyes and the bottom black frame seems to hid them. I also feel I am taken more seriously when I wear them, it just might be in my head though. I was hesitant to start wearing them but since I started wearing them more often I am liking them more and more. I also think people who wear glasses smile at me more often when I wear my glasses.

...When I am driving down the highway and my contacts suddenly start bothering me (yes, this actually happens), I have to either grab my portable bottle of eye drops and try to drop them in my eyes while going 70mph, or rip them out of my eyes (and when your contacts are irritated, they hardly ever come out easily, ironically) and fumble for my glasses in my center console...

I don't know why they don't make pressurized saline with a mist nozzle, you could use that easier than drops (not exactly SAFE for use while driving, but better than trying to install DROPS!). Alternately, you could always push that little red triangle on the dash (it turns on your hazard flashers) and PULL OVER to deal with your contact crisis.;)

I actually bought Blairex "Simply Saline" (it is pressured sterile ophthalmic saline) and adapted a mist nozzle onto the bottle; it made the can of saline last a year when it used to last a couple months. Oh, I guess I just answered my own question!

Oh, and the word "affectation" comes to mind for those who wear glasses without need, but it doesn't bother me at all. Like if someone chose to get a cast on their (healthy) arm; completely normal! :sarcastic:

All right; if "fashion frames" are rationalized by seeing them as like jewelry I guess it's OK with me. I have seen some frames that were really cool, like the German small rectangular mens' frames in unusual colors/patterns.

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