A pair of lenses made from glass or plastic, worn in a frame over the eyes to improve vision by refracting light so that it will land in the correct place the back of the eyeball. This is necessary for people whose eyeballs are not naturally the correct shape for light to enter the pupil at the right angle.

What do glasses do for your eyes?
Glasses are used to help correct the vision of the wearer. For some cases a stigma is causing loss of vision because the alignment of the pupil receiving light is not at a correct angle.
I have two stigmas, one in each eye. One stigma's angle is worse than the others. So my prescription for eye-ware is mainly to fix the angle the light comes into my eyes. When my glasses fell one day and the lenses fell out, I put them back and they made my vision worse... I later figured out that they were switched.

What do you glasses do for your brain?
If you start to wear glasses just out of the blue, and wear them every day for a year. You are now dependant on them. You can't function without the use of glasses, and your brain tells you this.
Take this example:
I went to the eye doctor on December 22, 2002 to get a checkup. I told the nurse that I thought my eyes were getting worse. She noted this down, but after the complete checkup and the doctor was telling me my prescription barely changed. He told me that after seeing clear for a very long time my brain forgets how it was used to poorer vision. So my standards were raised in how I was supposed to see. Thus when I take glasses off now I think my vision is worse than a year previous. It isn't.

Glass vs. Plastic:
I have worn both glass glasses, and plastic glasses.

Glass:

  1. Glass is heavier and feels better sitting upon my face.

  2. Glass is very scratch resistant. Amazingly I've ran over my glass glasses with a car and the glass didn't break. Can't say too much about the frame.

  3. There is no scientific proof to prove glasses help your eyes see better than plastic, but I'm all for this idea.

Plastic:

  1. Plastic is light, you won't even feel they are there.

  2. Plastic is virtually indestructible, it won't chip or crack, saving big money on breakages. Even though they are indestructible I'm not too sure glass isn't durable enough.

  3. Safe - perfect for high risk areas where your eyes/glasses have a chance at being harmed or hit. i.e. nightclubs, driving a car, where you do stupid things etc. -Recommended more by eye doctors for safety issues.

  4. Professional - It cost me 25 dollars to get plastic over glass. They look exactly like glass, and you would be fooled. In other words fake

Why are plastic glasses safer?
Setting up an example: A man is driving a car wearing glass glasses. For whatever reason, he hits a car head-on. For this example there are no air-bags for our driver. He hits his head on the steering wheel, and his glasses shatter, fragmenting into both of his eyes. The man will likely be blinded, and his vision will never return if so. Even though the head-on crash may of caused other injuries to the man, if he was wearing plastic glasses his eyes would not of been affected, as they would not of shattered. Even if plastic did break, the likely hood of it causing you to go blind or harm your eyes is small.


Sources:
My eye doctors, Dr. William R. Pace and Dr. Daniel W. Pace.
Glass and plastic information gathered from scattered companies who make glasses and doctor websites.
Examples taken from my personal life.

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