Contacts or Pool Glasses?

M

mdestefano

Mike deStefano
Well I finally got to that age, 40+ somethings, and my vision is finally failing me on the table. I used be be a pretty good shot-maker but now I am definitely struggling. I have heard about these pool glasses but I am really not too sure they work as well as contacts might.
Since I have issues with just putting drops in my eyes so not sure if contacts would be a good choice for me.
Need some opinions please.
 
contacts would be the best , but if you can put them (and if you don't have lacrymal problems).
 
I recently switched from glasses to contacts. It was certainly an improvement for clarity, though the prescription was a little different with the contacts and it took me a little while to get back to where I was. As far as putting in contacts and taking them out, that like anything else gets easier the more you do it. Also if you can afford to go with an extended wear lens you only need to put lenses in every few weeks, up to a month. It's not like the old days where you had to take them out every night.
 
rellek said:
I recently switched from glasses to contacts. It was certainly an improvement for clarity, though the prescription was a little different with the contacts and it took me a little while to get back to where I was. As far as putting in contacts and taking them out, that like anything else gets easier the more you do it. Also if you can afford to go with an extended wear lens you only need to put lenses in every few weeks, up to a month. It's not like the old days where you had to take them out every night.
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Yes I did hear you can get extended wear up to 30 days. That is good news. Did you have any issues with the smoke in the pool rooms? They still allow smoking in most of the pool rooms in Florida. Also was there any request that could be made for a pool playing prescription?
 
for contact lenses, no need to adjust the prescription to the pool distance , else you'll have to remove them to drive :) .
choose a decent material , silicon-hydrogels are the norm atm.
 
I've always had poor vision. switched to contacts two months ago, been playing better than I ever had before. I'd go with some nice rigid contacts though, it'll take a week or two to get used to them, but soft contacts deform too much. The visual acuity of rigid contacts is far far superior.
 
I had refractive surgery called radial keratotamy for near sightedness 30 years ago. This was pre laser days and they used a scalpel. 4-5 years ago I started needing reading glasses and my vision continued to get worse until I couldn't see at a distance either. My pool game was really suffering. It seemed like all my new learning about pool was becoming neutralized by my eyesight. I was afraid I would need bi-focals so I put off getting them checked. Well I finally went in and found out I was only far sighted. I got some extended wear contacts and can now see the balls again. @ 52 years old I am now playing the best pool of my life. I have trouble getting them out of my eye even though I wore hard contacts when I was a teen ager. But once a month or so is a small price to pay. My eye doctor was really cool he let me try a bunch of prescriptions until I found the best combination for playing pool with. I tried the daily wear ones first and it was just such a pain taking them out every night and I ruined a bunch of them so the extended wear ones are really a better value. My BIL has daily wear ones like I tried first and he wears a set day and night for 4-5 months and has been for years with no trouble.
 
Contacts

What he said above is not true. I wore hard contacts for over 40 years, and the best vision I had with them was 20/40 (20/1000 in each eye, astigmatism front and back of each eye, and scarred corneas), and my eye doctor put soft lenses on me about 3 years ago, and my vision with them is now 20/25, and I see better than I have ever seen. They are much more comfortable than hard lenses. I get a 6 pack of the monthly lenses every 6 months for $116.00. I also sleep with the lenses in with no problem.
 
Snapshot9 said:
What he said above is not true. I wore hard contacts for over 40 years, and the best vision I had with them was 20/40 (20/1000 in each eye, astigmatism front and back of each eye, and scarred corneas), and my eye doctor put soft lenses on me about 3 years ago, and my vision with them is now 20/25, and I see better than I have ever seen. They are much more comfortable than hard lenses. I get a 6 pack of the monthly lenses every 6 months for $116.00. I also sleep with the lenses in with no problem.
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Yes, definitely get soft contacts. I tried the hard ones back in 98 and they were terrible. Could only wear them for about 4 hours max AND you can feel that they are there. Then in 2008 I tried soft contacts; wow, what difference?! I could wear the soft ones for 10+ hours and they were barely noticeable. Even wore them to BCA Vegas 2009 with no problems in the heat.

As for using drops to re-wet when you need, i suggest the brand:
Blink - for contacts
Here in Texas at Wal-mart a bottle goes for $6. Best drops PERIOD!
 
mdestefano said:
Well I finally got to that age, 40+ somethings, and my vision is finally failing me on the table. I used be be a pretty good shot-maker but now I am definitely struggling. I have heard about these pool glasses but I am really not too sure they work as well as contacts might.
Since I have issues with just putting drops in my eyes so not sure if contacts would be a good choice for me.
Need some opinions please.
Click to expand...
You haven't said what the problem with your vision is. Have you had your eyes checked?

If you have had good vision all your life without glasses, then your eyes may be slowly losing the ability to "accommodate": to adjust focus for both near and far objects. The problem would also show up in reading and using computers, since the distance is much less for reading than shootin gpool. If you can still see fine for reading, then something else is probably going on.
 
Soft Lenses Period !!!!!!!!

The general consensus here is 2 go with the soft lens!

Take it from a Blind Player that when I got my first pair over twenty years ago they would help my game significantly !
Simply said, I can't play without them.

U will adjust easily enough to putting them in and taking them out.
Everyone has a threshold for the number of hours of use.
I used to keep mine in for up to 8-10 hours but now my eyes get tired
at about 4-5 hours. Simply take them out and rinse them and rest your eyes for a few minutes before your next match.

One last FYI 4 U, B sure to get them tinted so U can easily locate them if they fall off your finger.
 
derangedhermit said:
You haven't said what the problem with your vision is. Have you had your eyes checked?

If you have had good vision all your life without glasses, then your eyes may be slowly losing the ability to "accommodate": to adjust focus for both near and far objects. The problem would also show up in reading and using computers, since the distance is much less for reading than shootin gpool. If you can still see fine for reading, then something else is probably going on.
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I think it is just age. They say your vision goes after 40. I am now going on 47 so I would assume that is what it is. Started using reading glasses for computer work and such. The main problem is that my dominant eye is now the weaker of the two so my shots are off by just enough to be annoying.
 
fool4pool said:
The general consensus here is 2 go with the soft lens!

Take it from a Blind Player that when I got my first pair over twenty years ago they would help my game significantly !
Simply said, I can't play without them.

U will adjust easily enough to putting them in and taking them out.
Everyone has a threshold for the number of hours of use.
I used to keep mine in for up to 8-10 hours but now my eyes get tired
at about 4-5 hours. Simply take them out and rinse them and rest your eyes for a few minutes before your next match.

One last FYI 4 U, B sure to get them tinted so U can easily locate them if they fall off your finger.
Click to expand...
Good idea on the tinting. That I did not think about.
 
I use glasses that are slightly bigger lenses than my usual pair but not anything like shooter glasses. Antireflective lenses. Works ok. My eyes don't like contacts but I should give them another shot. Getting old sucks, my eyes get a shade worse by every exam.
 
mdestefano said:
I think it is just age. They say your vision goes after 40. I am now going on 47 so I would assume that is what it is. Started using reading glasses for computer work and such. The main problem is that my dominant eye is now the weaker of the two so my shots are off by just enough to be annoying.
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The cheap way to find out is to get another pair of reading glasses, with a weaker correction - a pair that gives good vision over table distances, maybe 3-8 feet. You can adjust each eye by buying two pair, one pair picked for each eye, and carefully swapping the right or left lens so you have one good pair and one worthless pair (still much cheaper than a prescription).

The other thing that would make your eyes 10 years younger at pool is to talk the room owner into installing brighter table lights. My place has 60 watts worth of T-12s (1 pair of 4 foot 30 watt bulbs) over each 8 footer, and that's not enough. They are even cheaper than your glasses - bring in new 40 watt tubes (same size) for your favorite table and ask the owner to install them.
 
derangedhermit said:
The cheap way to find out is to get another pair of reading glasses, with a weaker correction - a pair that gives good vision over table distances, maybe 3-8 feet. You can adjust each eye by buying two pair, one pair picked for each eye, and carefully swapping the right or left lens so you have one good pair and one worthless pair (still much cheaper than a prescription).

The other thing that would make your eyes 10 years younger at pool is to talk the room owner into installing brighter table lights. My place has 60 watts worth of T-12s (1 pair of 4 foot 30 watt bulbs) over each 8 footer, and that's not enough. They are even cheaper than your glasses - bring in new 40 watt tubes (same size) for your favorite table and ask the owner to install them.
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I wouldn't think that reading glasses would have the strength to make it 9 feet away. That is interesting.
 
I had always worn glasses. I had Lasik and now have 20/20 in one eye and 20/15 in the other, damn near had to learn how to play again nothing looked the same. Took awhile to adjust
 
Soft contacts ,with bifocals can be purchased

Steve Mizerak played with 2 different contacts,he created mono vision in his case ,a distance lens and a close up lens. Billiard glasses are made for pool- reg glasses don't give you the correct depth perceptions because(when your down on the ball you don't look through your prescription!! The glasses are facing the floor(the script part of the lens. Your eyes are the only 2 ya got- skip the surgry unless you where coke bottle lens. It will be 10 yrs before the latest(technology will be used. Best way for the Military to refuse you- have lacex- mark
 
Contacts Vs Glasses

When I started playing I would take my glasses off to play. But as the years went on my eyesight got worse. When I took my glasses off the balls were now really out of focus. I then switched to soft contacts and now the longer shots were in focus but the short shots were now out of focus. It was back to the optometrist and I walked out with a set of monovision lenses; one eye for close-up vision and the other for distance. They worked great for quite a while. The downside was that eventually I started to get headaches after about 4 hours. It was about this time that I gave up pool for a while, which was over 12 years, I abandoned the contacts in favor progressive glasses. When I started again I have to still take my glasses and everything is still a little fuzzy at a distance.

But I would definitely recommend the soft contacts over glasses. If I could wear monovision contacts without the headaches I would. Maybe things have changed since then.

Gerry S
 
I had the option of having one eye corrected for close up vision and one corrected for distance but my job requires good stereo vision.
I have adjusted and now the only problem is very close up and that is likely due to my arms getting shorter as I get older and my falling asleep :boring2:
at the table.

Seriously....It did change my game for the better. :thumbup:
when I wore glasses I always had problems with glare
Contacts would move around and dry out
 
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