If you wear contacts, you may assume that this means that you don’t need glasses too. There are many reasons why people prefer to wear contact lenses over glasses, such as an easier time playing sports and increased confidence. However, this does not mean that one type of corrective lens is better than the other – it just comes down to personal preference and your unique needs. 

If your preference is contract lenses, you may feel averse to the idea of getting a pair of glasses and think you don’t need glasses. Perhaps you don’t like how they look or you find them uncomfortable. Nonetheless, if you wear contacts, you definitely need backup glasses too. We’ll get into the reasons for this down below. 

Here’s what you need to know about why you need glasses even if you wear contacts. Let’s get into it!

#1. You Need To Rest Your Eyes

You don’t want to overwear your contacts, as this can strain your eyes and increase your risk of eye infections. This is especially true if you work a job that requires you to spend a lot of time looking at screens. When we’re looking at a screen, we blink less, which can dry out your eyes. In order to keep your contacts comfortable, your eyes can’t be dry.

Switching to glasses gives you the chance to give your eyes a bit of a break. It can be helpful to switch to glasses for a few hours at night or for a day during the week. 

#2. Your Eyes Get Irritated, Infected, Or You Have Allergies

It’s wise to follow the RSVP rule when it comes to knowing when you should switch to your backup pair of glasses. Leaving your contacts in when your eyes are having problems, like itchiness or irritation, can cause quite a bit of discomfort. Taking your contacts out gives your eyes the chance to heal and can reduce symptoms, since you no longer have something on your eyes.

The RSVP rule means you should take your contacts out if your experience:

• R. Redness in one or both of your eyes.
• S. Secretions from your eyes, like mucus from an infection.
• V. Vision changes, like your vision getting blurry when it’s normally clear with contacts.
• P. Pain, such as discomfort, soreness, itching, and the like.

If you are suffering from any such symptoms, you’ll want to remove your contacts. You may need glasses in order to be able to see until your eyes get better. You may need to schedule an eye exam if symptoms persist. Once your symptoms go away, then you can wear contacts again.

#3. You Suffer Eye Trauma

You can never predict when something can happen. While no one likes to think about the possibility of an eye injury, they can still happen. If you suffer an eye injury, you will need to switch to glasses until it heals. 

If you don’t already have a pair of backup glasses, you may need to wait a week or longer before your order is ready – and if you have a strong prescription, you may be very limited in what you can do until your glasses arrive.

#4. Something Happens To Your Contacts

It’s always good to carry some backup glasses around with you in case something happens to your contacts. This is especially important if you’re traveling. If you were to lose a contact, it got scratched or ripped, you accidentally forgot your contacts, your eyes are having issues, or you suffer an eye injury, you’d be stuck unless you had a pair of backup glasses with you. 

#5. You Want To Go Swimming

You should never leave your contacts in when you go swimming. This is because swimming with contacts in can result in all sorts of eye problems, such as infections and even corneal ulcers. This is because water is home to many different viruses and microbes. Since soft lenses are porous, if you wear contacts while swimming, this can cause bacteria and chemicals to get lodged inside your lenses, against your eyes. 

Plus, water can cause soft lenses to tighten against your eyes. This can cause quite a bit of irritation. The FDA recommends that you do not expose your contact lenses to any type of water, be it the water at your home or the water in a swimming pool. 

It’s much easier to wear glasses to the pool so you can take them off and put them back on with no trouble than it is to need to worry about your contacts.

#6. You Need To Get Up In The Middle Of The Night

If you have children, there is suspicious activity outside, or an emergency happens, you need to be able to see easily. Not having corrective lenses can make this difficult, and you may not have the time to put your contacts in. You need glasses as a backup so that you can easily throw them on to see why your baby is crying or if the fire alarm starts going off. 

Do You Need Glasses?

Wolcott Optical can help! Your glasses prescription is actually different from your contact lens prescription, so if you don’t already have both, you’ll need to get a prescription before you can order some backup glasses. While contact lenses are wonderful, it’s still important for contact lens wearers to have backup glasses just in case. Contact us today to learn more about our optical services.