Can You Use Glasses and Contacts Simultaneously?

The simple answer is YES!

Although it is not a criminal offense, why would you want to do such a thing?

One scenario where contacts and glasses can be worn together is when one of them is non-prescription. If you are wearing coloured lenses with prescription glasses or eye contact lenses with fashionable frames, you are good to go.

Another scenario is when the contacts are for farsightedness and the glasses help with reading. This practice is common among people suffering from presbyopia.

However, if both of them have a prescription, you are in for some vision issues.

Why not wear prescription contacts and glasses together?

Some people wear spectacles and contacts simultaneously to avoid the need of carrying two pairs of glasses.

But isn’t wearing glasses over contacts a hassle on its own? And don’t even get us started on the cost it would befall you.

And, if both the contacts and eyeglasses have prescription, your eyes will be straining to see due to two different vision powers.

It may even lead to headaches and eye fatigue which can be disheartening since you have put a lot of money on these vision correction options.

To make the experience comfortable for you, contact your ophthalmologist or optometrist. They will tell you what should be the ideal prescription for your glasses while you wear contacts.

However, the combination of contact lenses and glasses can be quite unpleasant for some people with complicated prescriptions. If we have got you confused, let us make it easier for you.

Benefits of glasses over contacts

If you have a vision problem, there is a possibility that you might have already experimented with these two options. Where choosing between spectacles or eye contacts is a matter of personal choice, you must consider the potential benefits that these two tools would serve.

These are some of the common advantages that glasses-wearers enjoy over people who wear contact lenses:

Easy adjustment phase

If you think that adjusting to spectacles is hard, you probably never had to put up with the struggles associated with lenses.

Not only adjusting, the complicated process of weaning contact lenses is enough to make you cry for help. Putting on contacts requires you to sanitise your hands first and if you don’t do this, you might catch an eye infection.

You have no such hassle with glasses. You can clean them with a solution or liquid soap in the morning and use lens cleaning wipes for a quick touchup when you are out and about.

Glasses are cheap

Contacts need to be replaced either monthly or quarterly and come with a hefty price of up to £30.

That’s a lot of burden on your pocket. Glasses come at affordable prices and if you buy good-quality durable frames, you can weary your glasses for years to come (if your prescription remains the same).

Even if you have a complicated prescription, there are affordable prescription glasses online to fulfill your vision needs.

Why would you spend on contacts every other month when you can buy one frame and wear it for years?

Lenses are fragile

Ever broken your expensive contacts?

When your eye contacts get dry, they become more prone to damage. Even if they haven’t run out of moisture, their effectiveness will diminish with time and usage.

On the other hand, glasses with titanium and acetate frames are meant to stand the test of time. If you take good care of your specs, they might be with you for more than two or three years unless you break them accidentally some day or lose them.

Glasses have better UV protection

While contacts are designed to give some degree of protection against harmful UV rays, glasses offer 100% UV protection.

Moreover, you can add coatings of blue light and anti-glare to your glasses lens but there is no room for these coatings in contacts.

If you consume 6+ hours of screen time, blue light glasses will shield your eyes from blue light. However, you don’t have to buy a different frame altogether. You can simply buy online glasses or from a local shop and add on this filter later.

Not only this, spectacles also protect the dust and dirt from getting inside your eyes. Contacts give no such safety to your eyes.

Glasses have a fashion appeal

Are your contacts able to change your look?

Glasses have a unique fashion appeal that is much-needed for a personality upgrade.

Eyewear has transformed into a fast-moving fashion accessory and more and more people like to wear glasses instead of contact lenses. With countless frame styles, there is not a look that you can’t achieve with your glasses.

The takeaway

Wearing contact lenses with glasses can be worn together as long as only one of them is prescription. However, if both of them have an optical power, you have to bid goodbye to one. Glasses have more benefits than contacts. The stylish frames available in the market today will get you gravitating towards glasses.