Glasses or (Colored) Contact Lenses: Do You Really Have To Ask?

I've been partially blind for practically half of my life. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but seriously, since 6th grade, I needed something to aid my vision or else I would bump into posts, greet the wrong people and fall into manholes. I'm nearsighted as a... very nearsighted creature and honestly, I will not be able to read the laptop screen that I'm staring at right now if not for my glasses.

This handicap has paved the way for the inevitable geekiness that came with wearing glasses in high school. The years I've spent with wire and glass sitting grotesquely at the top of my nose were the moments I felt most unattractive. I honestly felt shackled by this evil contraption on my face.

Then, the sun appeared and the heavens parted. Contact lenses entered my life and my existence returned to normal. No more need to have a clean cloth handy to wipe off smudge, no fogged up vision when eating soup, no more pesky rain splotches on my glasses that made me think they should have a built in wiper like those in windshields of cars. To cut it short and make it more dramatic than it should, contact lenses saved my life.

Now, for the longest time, I've been wearing clear ones, obviously with grade, but I've been meaning to try on colored contact lenses since late last year but never get around to actually do it. I've been convincing myself that it's not vain to do so because I actually do wear ones anyway for the correction of my vision problems. 

See, I poke fun at people who go all the trouble of buying, cleaning, managing dry eyes and other irritations just for the sole purpose of having different colored eyes. It's too much hassle for a cinnamon or charcoal colored iris, not to mention expensive.

Now, as fate would have it, the last time I went to Executive Optical, they didn't have the grade of the clear contacts I was supposed to by. The optometrist there sales talked me into buying a colored one, which surprisingly turned out to be cheaper than the clear version, and ultimately I went home with my very first poser iris lenses.

In hindsight though, I wish I didn't try on their testers in the store. 

I asked for the most subtle colors they have, ones that won't make me look like a trying-hard Caucasian wannabe. I was given a choice between Cinnamon and Amethyst. The lady said I could try both to see which one looked better. So I did. 

It was after leaving the store that I realized that these lenses that they have for fittings were not being sanitized properly but just cleaned with ordinary solution and stored in this airtight bottle. What did I expect anyway, that they autoclave it? But still, I just think it's unsafe to have these lenses tried on by different people without first establishing that they are free from any infections. I still love the EO shop but I don't think I will ever let those communal contact lenses touch my sclera again.

That said, I'm pretty fond of my Amethyst eyes but getting bored of it pretty quickly. I didn't pick it because of the violet tinge but because, out of the two, it looked less conspicuous. There was almost no difference, except for the slight doll eyes effect. Now, I wished I had picked the more obvious one just for the kicks. But hey, there's still an entire lifetime to try lenses in all the colors of the rainbow.

It's not like my eyesight's getting better.