Are Glasses a Beauty Issue?

A laser eye surgeon asked me recently if I thought glasses were a beauty issue, and my immediate reaction was yes, absolutely. I was mostly thinking of the challenges they present in terms of eye make-up.

Afterwards, I started to think more about my own relationship with my specs. I wear glasses pretty much all day, everyday. My prescription's not the worst ever, at -3.50ish in both eyes, but I'd be absolutely incapacitated without them. For the last 18 years or so, my specs have been the first thing I put on in the morning and the last thing I take off at night. I've had red ones, blue ones, black ones, purple and turquoise acetate cat's eye ones (still my favourites), currently have gold/bronze metal ones, and am strongly considering hot pink acetate ones for my next pair.

If you were ever to meet me socially or see a photo of me at an Evint of any description, though, there's a very good chance you wouldn't ever know I wear glasses. That's because I keep a stash of contact lenses on hand for nights out, holidays, parties, weddings, and the like. Although wearing glasses for work and on a near constant daily basis doesn't bother me in the slightest, I feel very uncomfortable if I wind up having to wear them for occasions such as these.

It's not that they make me feel somehow under-dressed or over-accessorised or that I reckon taking off my glasses (and letting down my hair, of course) suddenly makes me better looking; I think it's more that I always feel like a previous version of me when I wear them. Unfortunately, that previous version is about 16, painfully shy and introverted, and gets completely tongue-tied in conversation with anyone she doesn't know very well.

Beauty is largely about feeling at one's best, I think, and since there's such a definite overlap for me between wearing my glasses and feeling good, they're a bigger beauty issue for me than I'd ever previously realised.