About Eye
Glasses
Eye
glasses are often regarded as unattractive, and many people
prefer to wear contact lenses for that reason. Contact lenses
also provide much improved peripheral vision.
On the
other hand, many people are attracted to people who wear eye
glasses, and eye glasses are available in a wide range of
styles, materials, and even designer labels.
Eye
glasses can be a major part of personal expression, from the
extravagance of Elton John and Dame Edna Everage, from Groucho
Marx to John Denver to Lisa Loeb all the way to the varied
professional personas of eyeglass-wearing knowledge
workers.
For some
celebrities, eye glasses form part of their identity. American
Senator Barry Goldwater continued to wear lensless horn-rimmed
spectacles after being fitted with contact lenses because he
was not recognizable without his trademark eye
glasses.
British
soap star Anne Kirkbride had the same problem: her character on
Coronation Street, Deirdre Barlow, became so well-known for her
big frames that she was expected to wear them at social
gatherings and in international tours, even though Kirkbride
has always worn contact lenses.
Drew Carey
continued to wear eye glasses for the same reason after getting
corrective laser eye surgery. British comedic actor Eric Sykes,
who became profoundly deaf as an adult, wears eye glasses that
contain no lenses, but are in fact a bone-conducting hearing
aid.
Masaharu
Morimoto wears eye glasses to separate his professional persona
as a chef from his stage persona as Iron Chef Japanese. And of
course John Lennon wore his round "granny eye glasses" from
some of his time with the Beatles to his assassination in
1980.
In popular
culture, eye glasses were all the disguise Superman and Wonder
Woman needed to hide in plain view as alter egos Clark Kent and
Diana Prince, respectively.
An example
of halo effect is seen in the stereotype that those who wear
eye glasses are intelligent or, especially in teen culture,
even geeks and nerds.
This
conception probably comes from an era when most people were
illiterate and the first people to wear eye glasses were those
who did a lot of reading. Some people who find that wearing eye
glasses may look nerdy turn to contact lenses instead,
especially under peer pressure.
Another
unpopular aspect of eyeglasses is their inconvenience. Even
though the late-20th century saw the creation of light frames,
such as those made of titanium, very flexible frames, and new
lens materials and optical coatings, eyeglasses can still cause
problems during rigorous sports.
The lenses
themselves can also become greasy or trap vapour when eating
hot food or swimming or walking in rain, reducing visibility
significantly.
Scraping,
fracturing, or breakage of the lenses require time-consuming
and costly professional repair, though modern plastic lenses
are almost indestructible and very
scratch-resistant.
Health
Related Websites
The National Cancer
Institute
The National Eye
Institute
The National Heart, Lung,
and Blood Institute
National Institute on
Aging
National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institute of
Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
National Institute of
Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
National Institute on Drug
Abuse
National Institute of Mental
Health
National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke
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