Remember those glasses I bought? They’re mostly for reading, but they’re also progressives so I can wear them all the time, if I like. Which I often do. My days are heavily sprinkled with bursts of reading and writing so it’s often easier to just leave them on.
Except there’s a problem. The glasses leave bright red indentations on either side of my nose.
Here, I’ll show you:
Oops. Out of focus. Let’s try again.
Getting closer. Hang on….
There we go! See it?
I wouldn’t mind the marks so much if they faded after five or ten minutes. But they don’t. Just one hour of wearing the glasses earns me a good two to three hours of violent red markings. Granted, this is peanuts in the grand scheme of things. I’m not in pain, nobody is loving me less for my spots, and I can see, for crying out loud.
But still.
I was fussing to my blind-as-a-bat husband about my nose spots and he said, “That’s weird. I’ve never gotten marks on my nose and I’ve worn glasses for years.” And his glasses are about an inch-thick and super heavy. What is up with this, people? Why do some people get marks and others don’t?
I feel like I have two options—either wear my glasses all the time, or don’t wear them at all—neither of which is acceptable. Is there a middle ground? Have any of you glasses-wearer people hit upon a solution?
(And please, don’t suggest “stop being vain” because that’s just not going to happen.)
(Another no-no: telling me to adjust my perspective. That’s just bad punnery. Don’t do it.)
This same time, years previous: the puppy post, the quotidian (7.8.13), zucchini skillet with tomatoes and feta, rain, and peanut butter cup ice cream.
11 Comments
KTdid
Interesting. I dropped a nose pad the other day (meaning it fell off). Went to Costco to see if they could help me with re-attachment. The woman there told me that now most new glasses are being made sans the nose pieces.
Q.
Anonymous
Or it might be a matter of adjusting the fit of the glasses or nose pieces. Go back and ask them about it.
Margo
I have worn glasses since 6th grade. If I wear plastic frames with no pads, then I get no marks – just faint indentations that fade quickly, kind of like the lines from socks when I take them off. And I have fairly thin, sensitive skin – bruises show up shockingly well.
I like your close up photos – you look pretty!
Anonymous
Go back to where you bought the glasses and let them know. I had the same issue with my new glasses. They had used some really cheap-o material. It took them 5 minutes to change out the nose pads for me. Now I can wear them all day long! No ouchies on my nose!
Em
I have this problem and I think it's caused by the silicone nose pads that they use nowadays – they're almost 'sticky' and I find them really uncomfortable. You can get porcelain pads which apparently don't cause this, although they seem quite pricy. It might be worth speaking to your optician to see if they can replace them with something made out of a different material, I know that when I used to have just the old-fashioned plastic pads I never had this problem.
Mountaineer
My father has deep impressions where the glasses rest.
Miriam
I would recommend those cushy nosepads. I've used those occasionally over the years, to make my glasses more comfortable. I've worn glasses for 45 years, some have left more of a mark than others, depending on the design. I have fair skin too, but I don't remember seeing marks too much. Of course, I HAVE to wear glasses just to be able to see a foot in front of me.
beckster
I have worn glasses since I was a child, and I always had this problem until I got lighter glasses. Glasses with any weight to them always do this to me. Now I wear lenses with no frames that are extremely light. And I must say that I love them. Since changing to no frame glasses, I don't have to see the world through a "frame".
Second Sister
You know, my husband has a fairly pale skin tone and his skin is so impressionable, just a light scratch or pressure and he looks like he's been bruised or gouged or something, he's not sore, just covered in dark red marks. You could write your name or make a hand print on him that would last a while. ITs actually quite fascinating, but I do think its just that different skins are different. So all that to say, I don't think you are weird, just fascinating;)) love ya.
Rachel
are you reacting to the metal or coating on the glasses? Maybe buying those little nose pads would help (I don't know what they're called but they stick right on to the glasses)? My son's glasses that had little pads on prongs (ugh what is the terminology here?!) needed to be adjusted a bit before they quit leaving marks on his nose, and other glasses that sat directly on his skin gave him a rash until we used the nose pads and/or put clear nail polish over the metal. Just a thought.
Mama Pea
I have exactly the same problem. Sigh. Let's face it. I guess some of us are just more sensitive than others. (At least as far as the skin on the side of our noses goes.) :o/