making a spectacle of myself

[Pat Kelly]

Ok, Let's see how far off-topic I can get here .
Last year I ran over my glasses (no, I wasn't wearing them at the time ). Since then I've been wearing my (15 year) old glasses.
I'm about to go see the eye Dr and I'd like opinions on the options I have.

1- Get new glasses

2-Get contact lenses

3-Laser surgery

Glasses do provide eye protection and I always get the transition lenses (auto-darkening) so they are my sunglasses too.
Are contacts a PITA on the motorcycle? All the wind whirling around could dry-out your eyes?
Laser, I currently use my glasses to see far away and take them off for reading. I think this changes and I would then need reading glasses.

I'd like to hear pros and cons from fellow XSives.

[Wildkat]

Contacts AND glasses (not at the same time)

If I wear my contacts when riding... I make sure my shield is down. It isn't so much the wind as it is the unknown factors... A bug or piece of sand in the eye can create chaos with contacts... and then there is the problem with slippage... sometimes contacts will slip a little from the wind... but they look SO much better than the glasses...
Glasses can be a pain too though... having to take them off before putting on your helmet (even with my modular helmet)... but a lot more protection against foreign objects than contacts...
Personal preference really... I prefer to wear contacts... but I think glasses are probably better for riding...
(but I still wear my contacts)
Wow... reading back over this... probably wasn't any help at all...

Around here they will usually have a deal on a pair of glasses with the purchase of contacts... don't know if that is an option for you... but I'd get both...

[randy]

Contacts with sunglasses have worked well for me for years. Sunglasses protect the lenses, and I can see sideways MUCH better with contacts than with glasses, a definite plus while riding. With the combination I have, winshield, faceshield and sunglasses, my lenses don't dry out. Also like to do bike/car work with contacts, can't stand the glasses constantly slipping.

[mro]

but they look SO much better




A policeman stops a lady and asks for her license. He says "Lady, it says here that you should be wearing glasses."

The woman answered "Well, I have contacts."

The policeman replied "I don't care who you know! You're getting a ticket!"
_____________
Wear glasses when riding or driving...
or when I need to see something


mro
btw,
One day at a busy airport, the passengers on a commercial airliner are seated waiting for the pilot to show up so they can get under way.

The pilot and copilot finally appear in the rear of the plane and begin walking up to the cockpit through the center aisle. Both appear to be blind; the pilot is using a white cane, bumping into passengers right and left as he stumbles down the aisle. The copilot is using a guide dog. Both have their eyes covered with sunglasses.

At first, the passengers do not react thinking that it must be some sort of practical joke. After a few minutes though, the engines start revving, and the airplane begins moving down the runway.

The passengers look at each other with some uneasiness. They start whispering among themselves and look desperately to the stewardesses for reassurance.

Yet, the plane starts accelerating rapidly, and people begin panicking. Some passengers are praying, and as the plane gets closer and closer to the end of the runway, the voices are becoming more and more hysterical.

When the plane has less than twenty feet of runway left, there is a sudden change in the pitch of the shouts as everyone screams at once. At the very last moment, the plane lifts off and is airborne.

Up in the cockpit, the copilot breathes a sigh of relief and tells the pilot: "You know, one of these days the passengers aren't going to scream, and we aren't going to know when to take off!"

[MAXIMAN]

Fortunately I have 20/20 and never wore glasses.

However my sister and her family are all half blind. Well they were...but 3-4 years ago they all...Mom...dad...and daughter ha laser surgery.

Everyone of them has never regretted it. They all had great success and all have been corrected to 20/20.

You should at least check into it. I know there can be comlicationsbut it seesm this surgery is getting very common.

[Erik the Red]

depends on your helmet

I'm fairly blind, and have been for a while. Probably not legally, but close enough. I've worn contacts for the past 12 years. I wear a full helmet, for the record; it'll affect these pros & cons. I know a person who had the surgery ~5 yrs ago, loved it, but now is back to needing v. weak prescription if she wants 20/20. Have heard of many more who never had a problem.

Cons of glasses:
-helmet squishes them out of alignment with your eyes
-blurry peripheral vision -have to turn your head to see to the side.
-PITA taking off helmet, putting it back on

Cons of contacts:
-you really need to have something physical between your eye and everything else when riding. But if you already wear glasses, this wouldn't matter too much.
-some sunglasses are polarized and so are some visors. When you combine the two, you get a little rainbow type action. (sort of like what you'd see on an oil spot in the rain)
-if they do get lost in your eye (sometimes can happen) you'll have to pull over and find it, work it back into place
-you should have saline solution with you for contact emergencies (can use mouth, but saline better) -I never carry any, but something to perhaps consider.
-you're in CA, may be drier air out that way?? Might dry them out more than what MI riders experience. Just get those goggles to wear. =)

Pros of contacts:
-total peripheral vision, like randy said
-not uncomfortable to ride with (glasses are, to me)
-can just take helmet off
-I've never had them come out when riding. Roller coaster up to 120 mph w/ no problem (no eye protection), though not for an extended period of time.
-you can chop onions without crying much at all.

[Pat Kelly]

Fortunately the last time I had the vision test at DMV I was barely able to pass without wearing my glasses.
I rode all the way to Big Island "Deuce" and back without them (lost them 100 miles into the trip).
I don't need glasses to read but I do when driving in a strange place at night, or have to read street names.
From talking with co-workers, they say that the laser lasts about 10 years. Then you have it re-done or switch back to glasses.

This info is great, thanks Y'all

[malber]

Wind is a big issue with contacts because when your eyes dry out the contacts can stick to your innter eyelids and get lost up there. However, wearing contacts will allow you to wear appropriate goggles that sheild out the wind on the side and are really more appropriate eye protection than vision correcting glasses.

Eye surgery is the best, if you can afford it or your insurance pays for part of it. However your vision can still get worse as you age and you would eventually have to wear some kind of vision correction in the future, so it's not 100% permanent.

I wear glasses because I found contacts to be a PITA all the way around with the cleaning, the maintenance, etc. I know there are daily wear even for astigmatism like I have, but if you have any kind of allergy issue contacts are just another thing to irritate your eyes.

[Wayne]

glasses since kindergarden circa 1969

[fly]

get a perscription windshield
fly

[Ljay40]

Funny this thread should come up as it did
Last week went and got my glasses everything in the far distance is
kinda blurry and everything close up is really good. So i get
glasses for Driving. they ask me you want Bifocals, I say no beacause then I wont be able to see close up and I only need em for driving.So they make them and I drive with for 2 days with these new glasses. Crap there terrible I cant see anything close up,everything far away is crystal clear tho, So I go back hey give me the bifocals but I don't want coke glasses with lines running thru them, well 205 dollars later i orderthese bifocals, with auto darkening and antiglare and scratch proof I have my new glasses Well now my head gets sore trying to look through the bottom of my glasses at things close up as this is where they located the bifocal. Guess where the glasses are
Yup top drawer who cares about whats way in the distance I need to be able to see my dash and speedo

[STEPPENWOLF]

[ Well now my head gets sore trying to look through the bottom of my glasses at things close up as this is where they located the bifocal. Guess where the glasses are
Yup top drawer who cares about whats way in the distance I need to be able to see my dash and speedo [/B][/QUOTE]

Geeze when I first got my bifocals I hated them, now when I don't have them on I STILL turn my head up and down trying to look at something:-) I have some lineless glasses now....took some getting used to.

[randy]

BTW,

My contacts are bifocals. They work great.

[HobbyMan]

I always ride with glasses. Blind as a bat. (actually they see really well). Anyway, Besides having to take them off every time I put on or take off my helmet they are fine. I used to put a pair of sunglasses on over my regular glasses untill there was a sale on perscription sunglasses. What a difference! If you don't have some, you should. I don't like transitions.

[John]

I need a bi focal lens also. Before my accident, I was doing a good bit of over head work with a vehicle on a lift, but I started getting some burning pains in my neck from it, and had to take a few days off, as ordered by the company nurse. After discussing my options with the Dr, we settled on contacts for seeing within arms reach and reading, and working overhead, and glasses to wear over them for seeing distant. That was what I did at work. It worked great. No more tilting my head way back to see out of the bottom of the lens. The only drawback was that I had a very difficult time learning to put them in, and it could take up to five minutes per eye. Well, I was working second shift at the time so time wasn't that critical. Well, a couple of years ago I went to first shift, and I changed shops from the heavy repair shop to the "line shop'. where we only do quick repairs, starters, alts, water pumps, tires...and I have to get up at 4:30 am, and there is no way in hell that I'm going to be poking a finger in my eye at that time of the morning, so I don't wear them at all any more. I always wear my bifocals when riding, and I have no problem with seeing clearly far off or close up. I wear a half shell helmet. so I don't have to remove them to put the helmet on or off. I could drive with out them, I just need them to make out the speedo and tach clearly. My distance vision isn't all that bad, but just enough to need some correction.