What's better in an emergency, old glasses or no glasses??

[Dinnerdinnerbatman]

Glasses destroyed in primary school playground incident. Can't get new ones straight away as it's a prescription that can't be done in an hour. Child's prescription is something like -4 in each eye, so quite strong. What's better whilst we wait for replacement specs? No glasses, or ones from a drawer that are a year old and therefore two prescriptions ago?

Will consider getting a second pair, too, but they are expensive and we haven't had a breakage for three years.

At -4 they won’t be able to see a thing without some glasses. Old is better than nothing.

I am -9.50 in both eyes with various other eye issues and I would literally be unable to see anything further than 2 ins away from my face without glasses.

Do any fellow-MN-glasses wearers worry about an apocalypse situation where new glasses are no longer available so that you have to keep your old ones going (and if they fall apart you will be able to see f**k all for the rest of time)?!? It is something I worry about on a regular basis 🙄

My children’s opticians have always said wear old prescription while wait. I usually try to get a spare pair. Specsavers usually do money off second pair. Are the lenses broken as I know when we have had issues that if the lenses are ok and they have the same pair in store they will usually transfer lenses over to new frame rather than needing to send off for new glasses

Definitely old gasses, he won't be able to see clearly without glasses, he'll be better off with his slightly out of focus ones

Old ones. He won't even be able to get out of bed for a wee without his specs with that prescription.

I laugh with my dh about this.

I do feel desperately sorry for people in less privileged countries than us who have as poor eye sight as I do. Trying to live with glasses that are either not quite right or not at all must be hell. I would be severely disabled without glasses (I’m actually severely disabled anyway due to other conditions I have but I mean sight wise….)!

I had my eyes laser corrected now from about -7 and have been short sighted from a young age. Of course old glasses are better than no glasses! I am astonished you need to ask.

Definitely the old glasses. I'm -5.5 and can't see a thing without my glasses.
And try to get a second pair. Sometimes there are offers for that. Or get prescription sunglasses which can be emergency second pair too?

I’ve stopped getting a second pair because the options said that we could use old ones if we ever needed to get the main pair repaired. Better than nothing.

It's part of my very detailed zombie apocalypse plan, I'll be collecting all glasses I find that come close to the correct prescription and hoarding them for me and DH. We'd both be pretty useless without them as wouldn't be able to tell if the person ambling towards us had all their skin hanging off till they are a foot away and within reach.

This could be why the opticians don't ask to take the old ones off you when you get a new pair.

Now I do 😶

I was in Thailand in 2004 but I left the day before the tsunami hit. I once said to a friend, that if I had been there and survived my next personal worst nightmare would be if I had lost my glasses (-7 and -7.5 prescription), I would have lost everything before my glasses. She could not understand this at all.

Def old glasses in the short term

Another option- buy a pair of cheapie glasses from a supermarket in your childs script (clearly they wont be varifocal though). Depending on their age, if adult glasses are too large, add something to the ear piece part so they fit better over the ears, or cut the plastic arms off and add elastic which could be hidden under the hair at the back.

Going forward, I'd check whether getting replacement lenses in existing frames would be a cheaper option to ensure you always have a 2nd pair.

@MichelleScarn, you absolutely must hoard old pairs!

I'm -6.5 in one eye and -9 in the other and can't imagine how I'd get through a day without my glasses. When I get new ones I always put away the old ones in a safe place (I keep 2 "generations" of old ones just to be safe).

Eh? Why would they take the old pair off you. When I buy knickers in M and S they don’t try to take my old ones off me either. What a strange post. 😳

When me or my dd get new glasses the optician puts our old glasses in new case and says keep them as spare so wearing old glasses for a week or 2 can't make your eye sight any worse, main thing is he can see.

They don’t sell myopic / short sighted glasses off the peg. You can get reading glasses (for long sight) but op won’t be able to buy anything for a minus prescription.. (readers / long sight is a plus /+).

With kids glasses the second pair is half price (presumably because the first pair is free if you choose cheap ones)

@Aprilx if wearing old glasses was such a terrible thing, as the OP has suggested, why wouldn't the optician take your old ones off you?

Out of interest where can you get glasses in an hour?! Specsavers usually take a week...

Old pair woll be fine until they can be repaired.

I always have a spare pair in, and I'm in my 30's, glasses wearer since a child (astigmatism). Many times had to wear old pairs when I'd broken my current pair.

Mine take a week to 10 days to arrive always. I've had them tell me it will be a couple of days a few times, and I just smile and book the fitting appointment for the following week.

I don't just keep the last pair of glasses, I've got a box with five or six previous pairs - just in case of the zombie apocalypse (or at least, that's the excuse I shall now use rather than being called a hoarder)

I'm -4/-5, I can't function at all without glasses, can't even read a book unless six inches away. Certainly could not engage at school or be safe outside.

If you wear a bad prescription for months on end it's probably not ideal but it's better than nothing as a stopgap.