Eye health resource
Finding the Right Corrective Eyewear
Eyeglasses and contact lenses can both provide clear vision, but the best choice depends on your prescription, eye health, comfort, activities, and preferences. Here are the main differences to consider.
Reviewed for accuracy by Justin Bazan, OD on .
Eyeglasses and contact lenses can both correct common refractive errors such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. One is not automatically better than the other. The right choice depends on your prescription, eye health, daily routine, comfort, and how you want to use your vision correction.
Why choose eyeglasses?
Eyeglasses are simple to put on and take off, require little day-to-day maintenance, and can be a good choice for people who do not want to handle contact lenses. Frame and lens choices can also be tailored to your prescription, work, hobbies, sun protection, and style.
If your prescription changes, whether an existing frame can be reused depends on the frame’s condition and whether the new lenses are appropriate for it.
Why choose contact lenses?
Contact lenses move with your eyes and provide an unobstructed field of view, which many people prefer for sports, exercise, social activities, or simply the way they look and feel without glasses.
Contacts are medical devices, so a contact lens prescription requires more than an eyeglass prescription. Lens material, size, shape, movement, comfort, tear film, and eye health all matter. Good hygiene and following the prescribed replacement schedule are also important.
Park Slope Eye fits a range of contact lenses, including toric, multifocal, monovision, scleral, corneal GP/RGP, Ortho-K, and soft myopia-control lenses when appropriate.
Many people use both
You do not have to make an all-or-nothing choice. Many patients wear contact lenses for some activities and keep glasses for other times or as a backup.
A comprehensive eye exam can establish your current eyeglass prescription and evaluate eye health. If you want contact lenses, a separate contact lens exam and fitting addresses the additional measurements and lens assessment needed for safe, comfortable wear.
Learn more about eye exams, contact lens exams and fittings, or Park Slope Eye’s in-office prescription eyewear.