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Contact lenses aren't right for everybody, writer claims.

I had to start wearing eyeglasses in the eighth grade.

It was a tough pill to swallow at the time, but I got used to it. I had to admit to myself it was nice being able to see things that weren’t within two feet of my face. And I could read the chalkboard in school, too.

Sometime in high school, I convinced my parents to let me get contact lenses. I had to take them out every night, put them in an electric sterilizer, and worst of all, stick something cold and wet into my eye every morning.

The hassle eventually became too much, so I went back to glasses before I graduated and have been wearing them ever since.

That is until last month when I found out the paper’s vision plan covered contact lenses. I called and made an appointment with one of the eye doctors here in town and left his office wearing a new pair of contacts.

But a lot had changed since high school. Like my eyesight. Within the past five years, I had to start wearing trifocals. It seems being hunched over a computer and staring at a screen for hours at a time over the last 20 years had taken a toll. Trifocal contacts do exist, the doctor told me, adding that they were “trash” and that he didn’t usually recommend them to his patients. Just get a pair of “readers,” he said and sent me on my way.

“Readers,” I found out, were reading glasses like the ones my dad always carried in his shirt pocket and would be perched on the end of his nose whenever he read the newspaper. I’m pretty sure he bought them at a drugstore, and if he lost or broke a pair, it was no big deal.

On my way to buy some reading glasses, I quickly discovered I was unable to read the words on my cell phone screen. I tried putting on my old glasses, but that just made everything blurry. I somehow made my way into the store and found a display with dozens of pairs of readers. I finally settled on a low-powered pair and got a pair of sunglasses, too. No more need for my clip-ons, right?

Sometime that afternoon it dawned on me that my attempt to rid myself of the burden of wearing eyeglasses only resulted in the need to own multiple pairs. I still wear my old glasses frequently; I can’t go anywhere without my readers and it only took me a couple of days to lose my new sunglasses.

I must admit I like the freedom of not wearing glasses, and not being able to read a cell phone does have its upside. I can see great when I’m wearing them, just as long as I don’t need to read something. And my latest pair of sunglasses make me look super-cool, too. I'm very happy with my contacts.

Recently, prescription eye drops that can correct certain types of vision problems hit the market, a true marvel of modern science.

I don’t need any fancy eye drops. I’ll just keep squinting really hard, just like the good Lord intended.

Mark Birdsall is the assistant editor of the Huron Daily Tribune. Email him at mark.birdsall@hearstnp.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MarkEBirdsall.

Mark Birdsall has been the assistant editor of the Huron Daily Tribune since April 2022. Mark was first hired by the Tribune in the summer of 2019 to serve as sports editor, covering high school sports and running the Tribune's annual football contest. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Huron County and shut down high school sports in March 2020, Mark made a temporary move to news and officially joined the newsroom as a reporter in July 2021.

Prior to arriving at the Tribune, Mark was night desk editor for the Cadillac News, where he also helped out the sports department on busy high school football and basketball nights. He previously worked at the Holland Sentinel and the Greenville Daily News.

He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in print journalism from Grand Valley State University, where he was editor of the student newspaper, The Lanthorn.

A native of Bay City, Mark is an avid fan of the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, Michigan State Spartans and the Chicago Cubs. He's also a movie buff and enjoys attending live music events in his spare time.

Mark can be reached by phone at 989-623-3188 or by email at mark.birdsall@hearstnp.com