Do you wear glasses? Please share your memory of wearing them for the first time and your tips on getting them for the first time with Specsavers - you could win £250 NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

The team at Specsavers would love to hear your story of when you first put on a pair of glasses and realised what you were missing - did you have that "wow" moment? How life changing it is to have your vision corrected for the first time? They'd also love to hear your tips for other people on wearing specs for the first time - whether they are for a long or short sighted prescription.

Specsavers say "when you choose Specsavers Opticians you are in safe hands - as shown by a YouGov 2014 survey*, Specsavers has been voted the most trusted optician in the UK. We always completely follow the guidelines set out by the General Optical Council - this means that all our glasses are professionally fitted under the supervision of a qualified optician. Every pair of glasses is individually made to meet your vision requirements and lifestyle needs - your dispenser will check that your new glasses fit properly and that you have clear, comfortable vision, making any necessary adjustments to ensure a perfect fit – making getting that first pair a easy!"

Share your thoughts and everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £250 voucher from here

Please note Specsavers may use your comments - anon of course - on their pages on MN, on their social media or possibly elsewhere - please only post if you're happy with this.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

I'm 40 years old and after only a few days ago I had another eye test after 3 years from my last one, and this time I needed glasses for reading and PC work. Even though I only need occasionally I still want to look good so went for a nice pair instead of a cheap nasty looking pair. I get them next Saturday, exciting times.

I was 4 years old and HATED them.
Nice to see there is more fashion, help, and less stigma for kids nowadays

At primary school aged 5 the whole year had a free eye test at the school. I remember standing in the corridor where we had to wait in a line surname alphabetically. My surname begins with C so there was only 2 kids in front of me and there was 2 rooms you had to go in so my classmates in front of me went in and I remember thinking there won't be enough time to ask them what the right answer was when they come out like I usually did at school.

So anyway I go in, nurse points at the chair and without looking up from her notes says "sit down and read the letters on the 4th line down". The 4th line down looked like blurry dots to me so I said "i can't read it" so she then says to me "don't be so stupid, you can now what does it say?" "I can't see it miss, it looks like dots to me" so she sighed and then shined that horrible bright light in my eye which made my eyes water. She scribbled something on a piece of paper and said "give this to your mum, your gonna need glasses" my eyes were still watering from the bright shiny light thing but she thought I was crying and told me to stop being such a baby.

I hid the letter from my mum for weeks until she found it still in my tray at school at the end of term then took me to an optition in town. I didn't want to go and begged mum not to take me but thankfully the optition was a bit more friendly than that horrible school nurse and I got a pair of gold round frames (which really didn't suit me). It must have been winter as it was dark and had been raining and for the first time I could see reflections of the puddles and leaves on trees, Christmas lights had clarity and not just a blur.

For years I wore glasses with frames that didn't really suit me because how can anyone pick a pair of glasses when they can't see? But now I usually wear contacts and the only reason I tried contacts in the first place was a few years ago I could tell my prescription had changed but I couldn't afford a new pair of glasses so I had my eyes tested and had a free trial with specsavers and have worn them ever since. I think my prescription has changed again and I keep putting it off because I hate the optition as much as some people hate the dentist. Thankfully most optitions have been nicer than that school nurse but I still hate the experience.

I got glasses when I was 16, and wore them only for TV, computer, school board work etc. I was amazed to find the TV was so clear!

when I first got glasses I thought they had to be the wrong prescription because I felt dizzy and had a headache. I just needed time to adjust to wearing them. I think they should warn people it could take some time to adjust to wearing glasses.

My life-long love/hate relationship with my eyesight started when I was seven when the school doctor told my parents I needed glasses. Luckily my folks took me to an optician in France when we were on holiday to buy glasses as at that time (early 1980s) the choice in England was rubbish - I couldn't have gone to Specsavers!

I got some lovely pink frames and wore them proudly to primary school on the first day back of term.

But the life changing moment for me was that my wretched old bag of a teacher told me to stand up on my chair to show the class my new glasses! I was so embarrassed.

So my top tip is for teachers when a pupil starts wearing glasses - please do not make a big thing of it. It's enough to get used to wearing glasses as a child without someone who should know better making it worse.

My eyesight has continued to get worse over the last 30 years and I am now -11. I actually buy my glasses online from China as I found buying them on the UK highstreet just too expensive when I need thinner lenses and I was too worried about breaking such them. So I'm watching this discussion with interest in case it is time for me to go to Specsavers after all!

I always wanted glasses, until as I got older I started to need them for reading. Now I wish I didn't need them :/

I got my first pair 3 years ago at 18. I hated the idea and put off for a long time until the whole TV screen was a blur and I couldn't read number plates but was about to start learning. I reluctantly went to spec savers for an eye test and glasses and couldn't believe how much of the world I had been missing! I felt like I was seeing in HD. Even now I'm amazed when I tak my glasses off/on how much of a difference they make.

I realised wearing glasses was a great thing not something to be ashamed of! I even get compliments on my glasses!

I'm just about to look for some prescription sunglasses as a Christmas present! The glasses are on 2 for 1 in spec savers so I definitely think that's worth it of you are getting your first pairs or like me just something new! I'm going to get some normal frames and some shades and I'm actually excited to go and try them!

My advice to people would be to try everything on. Glasses look different on stands to what they do on your face and you want to be comfortable as well as liking the style of your glasses :)

I thought I was so cool and wore them all the time. I was 11 and used to push my hair back with them on my head. Hate the things now!

I got my first pair of glasses the year after I left uni. I remember getting home and putting the on in the kitchen and realising I could read the writing on the tub of flora across the room! Random, but very exciting to be able to see things I hadn't realised I couldn't!
I had my second pair of specs from spec savers and the service was fab

I got my first pair of glasses aged 10. I was having headaches at school and was terrified of the optician, sure that the eye test would hurt. I cried when he told me I needed glasses and took an hour to choose my frames. however, when I first put them on and walked back home through the park, I was completely amazed at the difference... every tiny leaf was so clear, every poster or road sign seemed vibrant and crisp, and lights were no longer blurred, but sharply defined bursts of colour. I was over the moon. Even now, I love my glasses. They're part of who I am.

I got my first pair at age 11 and hated them. As far as I was concerned they were just another thing to make me look even more ugly, so I only wore them when I really needed eg copy things from the blackboard.

As soon as I was 16 I got contacts and was so happy with them. Now I am happy to wear glasses out and about but still mostly wear contacts when out. My eyes get checked every year for wearing contacts and every 2 years for an eye test.

I realised I couldn't see the board in class when I was about 11. Didn't say anything until I had my eye test at 13 and was told I needed glasses. I let my mum choose them - they were big, round, burgundy monstrosities that were promptly christened my Owl Glasses by my sister and I wouldn't wear them in front of people. When I was on my own I wore them constantly though - my favourite thing was to look out of my bedroom window at the tree without the glasses so it was a green blur then put the glasses on and watch the blur become branches and individual leaves.

I chose my own glasses a few months later - rectangle frames in electric blue (my teenage way of saying I wear glasses, they're great, don't waste your time picking on me) - and haven't looked back. I have an eye test and a new pair every year, it's like an annual new look. I have pairs by every designer, in every colour and shape, I love the variety.

To people who have glasses for the first time - try on every shape frame you can find before picking one - and don't feel be self-conscious about it

I was 4 when I got my first glasses and I remember puttiing them on in the back of my Dad's car and I could see things clearly through the windows for the first time. Being short sighted it really opened whole world to me and I no longer had to sit with my nose almost pressed to the TV screen!

I was so proud to wear my first glasses at 12, as I'd been allowed to pick which ones I liked the best. Plus all my headaches stopped and the difference of what I could now see was amazing.
I was made to feel very special by my family.

I was 14 when i got my first pair of glasses. Just at the stage of life when every teenager is embarrassed by their sheer existence, I had to add specs to my frizzy haired, almost 6-foot gawky self. Being able to see the blackboard was no compensation. Contact lenses from SpecSavers, and learning to control my hair, a few years later were life-changing!

I remember walking home from work with my first pair of glasses, marvelling at how I could see all the individual leaves on the trees

I got my first glasses when I was 15, I was having problems seeing the board at school and had a lot of problems seeing at night, so after mentioning it to my parents, it was off to get my eyes examined.

At the exam, I found out I was short sighted and also had astigmatism and was told I needed glasses. About a week later, I walked out of the opticians with my glasses and I was absolutely amazed at how the world actually looked! I could now see signs from far off, whereas before I would have to be on top of them to see them clearly, I could also see and recognize peoples faces, trees now had individual leaves, buildings no longer had soft edges, but sharp well defined ones and colors were so much more vibrant! That first night, the sky came alive! I could now see not only the brightest stars, but also the dimmer ones as well and the the sky was full of them! The Moon also no longer looked like a fuzzy blob, but had details that I had forgotten you could see with your naked eye. Even with all these revelations I was still pretty self conscious being seen in my glasses, but my parents my sister and one of her girlfriends told me my glasses looked really good on me and that night I went to bed feeling really good about my new look! Glasses on day one were simply, awesome!

Day two was a different story, I woke up and realized I would now have to wear them to school and out in public and I was self conscious, uncomfortable and very nervous to be seen wearing glasses, in front of my friends, classmates, neighbors, pretty much everybody, but I loved how much better I could see, so I just put them on when I got up and didn't look back! That first day at school was definitely the longest day of my life wearing glasses, but my friends all said they liked my new look and those that didn't wear glasses wanted to know what it was like wearing them for the first time and a few asked if they could try them on! I also got a lot of compliments from others at school and found out it was nowhere near as bad as I imagined it was going to be and my confidence improved tremendously. The next day was a lot easier and by day three, I was definitely yesterdays news and nobody cared or said anything about my glasses other than now use them to help describe me to others; when asked what I looked like, they would always start it off by saying, well, he wears glasses, has blonde hair, etc., my glasses had now become a main focal part of my personality. By the end of the first week I came to realize wearing glasses wasn't going to be bad at all and within about a months time I was completely at ease wearing and being seen wearing my glasses and actually learned to embrace them and somewhere in that time they simply become part of who I am. I also found that for me, glasses had an added bonus one that I didn't expect: I had been very shy prior to wearing glasses, but through the process of getting used to wearing glasses and opening myself up to other peoples comments I lost most of my shyness and I think glasses gave me something to subconsciously hide behind and I gained the confidence I lacked in the process. For me, glasses were truly awesome!

I have now worn glasses for almost 40 years, my vision got a little worse over the years and I now wear progressive bifocals, but other than the first couple days, wearing glasses has never bothered me and I would never consider corrective surgery because wearing glasses is simply not that bad and is not worth risking my sight for vanity. I have also found being shortsighted in my fifties to have a major advantage that my friends with perfect sight don't enjoy and that is: I can still see things up close without reading glasses by simply taking my glasses off and many of my friends have told me they are extremely jealous that I can do this! A final benefit that many of us who wear glasses enjoy is: glasses give us an opportunity every year or so to easily change our appearance that those who have perfect sight and don't wear glasses never experience, they just have to trudge forward with the same old face year to year and with places like Specsavers we don't have to!

I was around 18 when I got my first pair of glasses. I got tested after trying a friends glasses on and realising that everything looked so much clearer.
My first pair were big Deirdre Barlow jobs, it WAS the 80's, and I remember feeling like I was walking on the moon or something, lol, taking big giant steps.
Now at the age where I'm being recommended varifocals. Trying to put it off for as long as I can.

I first started wearing glasses when I was 15. I actually wanted them as I couldn't see the blackboard at school although my mum initially thought I wanted them as a fashion statement!!

I just remember being so grateful I could see properly that nothing else bothered me.

The team at Specsavers would love to hear your story of when you first put on a pair of glasses and realised what you were missing - did you have that "wow" moment? How life changing it is to have your vision corrected for the first time? They'd also love to hear your tips for other people on wearing specs for the first time - whether they are for a long or short sighted prescription.

I was very young when my eyesight started to deteriorate- so young in fact that parents didn't realise until I was quite short-sighted and squinting to read (I started reading age 2 but had a strict ban on having my bedside light on after lights out, so would read in the dimming light, then use the light coming under the door from the landing- probably knackered my eyes that way). I had my first pair of glasses at the age of 6. I can still remember being amazed by the utterly crystal-clear sharpness of the leaves on the trees, that trees had individual branches rather than being a blurry mass of greenery! It was like a revelation. The same thing happens every time I get new glasses now. The scales almost literally fall from my eyes.

I wore my glasses from then on for reading, but utterly hated them, and did my utmost not to wear them in public for many months, including school. By then I could definitely not read the board from the back of the classroom where I sat. Unfortunately this coincided with us moving to France, and the teacher just thought it was because I was English and didn't understand, whilst my parents were unable to explain about the glasses because their French was non-existent. So I carried on not wearing them regularly until I was well over 8 and really needed them all the time. My eyes continued to deteriorate until I was 18, but I went through a short phase of contact lenses in my early teens (at my parents' insistence, way before I felt ready for them) and again in my late teens (scuppered by getting a smut under one of them in the Tube and being unable every to wear contact lenses again without my eyes swelling up).

My eyes are now at a comfortable (for me anyway) -8 diopters and some extra annoying astygmatism. I wear glasses, the smallest frames I can find and the thinnest lenses I can afford to keep the lenses thin at the edges, and to look at me you would never guess that I am only a short way off being registered partially-sighted. I get free eye tests though, and have done since I was 18. I love my glasses- they are part of my identity. People keep suggesting laser surgery but I really don't want to do it- it would change who I am, I feel. I don't feel defective, which is what the surgery suggestions intimate, I just feel like me.

My first pair of glasses at 25. I used to commute to my post grad college and i was struggling to read signs clearly. It was time to have my eyes checked!! Once i did, not only could i see road signs better (obviously very important) but I could see and identify more easily friends or people i knew from a distance. Very useful as I'm quite nosy! I had a lovely pair of deep raspberry red glasses when I bought my first glasses but lost them in the cinema - gutted. that was 7 years and still haven't found any glasses that were nicer.

My tip is try all colours of frames, even if you dont think they will work -try them as you might be surprised if they do or know for sure when they don't. I always thought i'd get trendy black specs but they look too harsh with my pale colouring.

I am stunned and impressed by my glasses all the time, in spite of having had them for twenty years. I only wear them to drive (I'm short sighted) and now and again I forget to take them off when I come in the house. So I decide to watch TV with them on. Its amazing! So clear. I can't believe I watch TV without them! But then I put them back on to drive and leave them in the car, and go back to watching TV without, until the next time ;)

I remember my first pair when I was 13... everybody told me I looked like Ann Robinson weeps

I realised that I needed glasses when the movie was blurred at the cinema. I feel so much better now that I can see distance clearly, but I find it inconvenient to wear glasses.