Why Your Mother Has Four Different Pairs Of Glasses
Have you ever noticed how your mother seems to have four different pairs of glasses? This seems to be a common phenomenon with women (and sometimes men) after they have gone through their forties and fifties. Why on earth does this happen? More to the point, will it happen to you? Upon closer inspection, you will see why this happens, and how it will definitely happen to you.
Your Mother Needed Glasses Most of Her Life
Many people need glasses, starting early on in life. The glasses correct astigmatism, nearsightedness, farsightedness, and partial blindness. In your mother's case, she probably needed them for nearsightedness, which is the most common reason for getting glasses, accounting for 30% of vision-related eye problems. If she also decided to buy a "2-for-1" special on eyeglasses in order to have a backup pair, that would explain two of the four pairs of glasses that she currently owns.
Reading Glasses for Adults
Your mother may also need reading glasses at this stage of her life. As the eyes age, the lenses inside them do not flex well. Very close or very tiny print is impossible to read without reading glasses. Her regular glasses cannot help because they are meant for refracting light and casting it onto the retinas. Hence, she probably walked into a pharmacy and up to those spinning racks of reading glasses to find a pair of reading glasses for adults that fit her and for which her eye doctor wrote down a specific lens power. That would be the third pair she carries around in her purse so she can see up close everything you hand her to look at.
Her Bifocals, Trifocals, or Distance Glasses
If your mom did not want to draw attention to herself by wearing bifocals or trifocals, she could also have purchases a pair of "distance" glasses. These are glasses that only contain lenses meant to see far away. She cannot see anything up close without changing glasses, and she cannot see things far away unless she switches back to the distance glasses.
With all of these eyeglass options, it is very easy to see how your mother ended up with four pairs of glasses in her possession. Every pair does something different or serves a different purpose. Even her spare everyday pair serves a separate purpose; it remains in a drawer until the other duplicate pair becomes lost or broken.
Yes, It Will Happen to You
If you already have glasses, you will probably end up just like your mom. Several pairs of specialty glasses stuffed into your purse, and you will not be able to go anywhere without them. Even if you have never needed glasses before, there is still a very good chance that you will need reading glasses and/or a pair of bifocals as you age. You can take excellent care of your eyes all of your life, but nothing stops the aging process from affecting your vision. Be sure to visit your eye doctor so that he/she can keep a close eye on your vision and monitor it for age-related changes.
Buying Reading Glasses Ahead
While you cannot purchase bifocals, trifocals, or prescription eyeglasses in advance of the aging process, you can buy reading glasses. There is just one problem with your desire to be proactive on this matter. You cannot predict what lens power of reading glasses you will need as you get older. Every set of reading glasses ranges from the very light power of about -.25 to the strongest and heaviest power of reading glasses, -3.25. Stronger glasses are often prescription-strength glasses only, and they are only available through your optician or your optometrist's office. Ergo, even though you know this is something inevitable, there is no way to prepare for it.
