Today, I commented on a post on CollegeFashion.net about wearing non-prescription glasses for fun, and apparently I’m getting a lot of hits from that, so I guess I’ll write a post about it.

The gist of the article was asking readers whether wearing glasses for fun is a good trend or not, predictably leaning toward yes.

Here’s what I posted:

And I absolutely stand by it.

I suppose I came across as more offended than I really am, but in an article that treated it as flippantly as this one does, I felt the point needed to be stressed. Wearing non-prescription glasses is frustrating to me. I recently had an argument with someone about this, and this article pretty much only added to my frustration.

As a longtime glasses/contacts wearer, it does annoy me when people with perfect vision wear non-prescription glasses, or when they joke about faking eye exams to get glasses. They obviously have no idea how lucky they are. Do I wake up every day wishing I didn’t need to put pieces of soft plastic in my eyes so that I can make it out of my room without injuring myself? You bet.

For years, my answer to the question “What’s the one thing you would change about yourself if you could” is not “Nothing, I love myself the way I am!” My answer is “I would give myself eternally perfect vision.” Because I do like glasses, but I like being able to see more than I like propping plastic frames on my face every day.

And a lot of the comments here are from fellow glasses-wearers who aren’t offended by non-prescrip wearers. And that’s fine. If you choose not to be offended, that’s your own thing. But really, I am.

And maybe it seems trivial to you. That’s fine, too. I know that what’s important to me isn’t always important to other people.

Here’s the scenario I’ve observed more than once: Someone is wearing non-prescrips. Another person asks if the glasses are prescription. Non-prescrip-wearer looks slightly embarrassed and says no. Lead to awkward moment and conversation change. Why are people embarrassed? Because they know they aren’t supposed to be wearing them, and admitting that they aren’t prescription means that the wearer just “really wanted glasses.” And that, readers, is a sentiment that will always frustrate and annoy someone who has to shell out hundreds of dollars per year on vision correction. Glasses aren’t something to be taken lightly. Yeah, they can be cute, but that doesn’t mean they’re for everyone.

If you don’t need them, I will never understand why you would want them. Well, I guess I do – it fulfills a multitude of “sexy” cliches and allegedly makes waking up late easier to mask. First of all, putting on glasses in lieu of your daily face routine doesn’t mask anything – really, it makes you look more disheveled. Just trust me on this. Second, I don’t disagree that glasses can be attractive, but I don’t get why you would want to pretend you can’t see. And as I’ve been told before by people who wear non-prescrips for a specific event, “man, those get old after a while and they get in the way. I’m amazed you can wear them all the time.” Right? Aren’t you? Because I didn’t choose to wear them – I have to.

And, if you want me to be completely honest, it makes my head want to explode when I see people wearing fake glasses because they think they look really cool and trendy. I know I’m getting too worked up about a fluff fashion blog post, but at the same time –  I don’t understand why I shouldn’t be able to expect more from a blog I’ve read regularly for several years.

What are your thoughts? Do you care? If you don’t, why not?