eyesight

[Chichiri]

Are there many people that learn MA that need to wear glasses?
Is it a major disadvantage without wearing glasses or are there many people who are still very effective even with the disadvantage?

[wall]

I'm shortsighted (-5) ... used to wear basketball-type goggles for forms until age 16, and nothing for fighting (and it was a major disadvantage) ... since 17 I wear disposable contacts when training...fantastic stuff. Never come off, don't even feel them: I like to wear glasses usually at work, so I just pop the contacts in when I get changed at the gym, train for a few hours, and then just throw them out when I have my shower. Easy.

[manofkent]

I cant see anything without contacts or glasses. the problem for me is that contacts really hurt my eyes after an hr or so, and i have to wear them for training 4times a week. however I will shortly be taking out a loan to pay for laser eye treatment. i cant wait!!!!!!

[CaptinPickAxe]

I wear glasses (well...contacts) and I'm just fine. Be warned, though, fighting with glasses is asking to have your nose broken.

[Chichiri]

oh ~ cool

maybe I'll give contacts a try then

Laser eye treatment... im too paranoid (and poor) to do that

[manofkent]

to be honest, so am i.

but im borowing the money and just think, how much do you recon u'll spend on ur eyes in ur whole life. it only takes about 15secs with the laser on each eye. did u know that actually cut the top off the lens off ur eye!!!!!! then they give you large contacts to wear for days like a bandage!!!!!!1

[apoweyn]

If you're considering the laser eye surgery, ask the surgeon about the increased risk of detached retinas if you're into contact sports. It's not a big risk for most people, but if you do any hard sparring, you could be in danger. (At least, that's what I was told a year ago.)

My eyesight is pretty poor without my glasses. I can't read street signs, etc. But I don't wear glasses to train. If it's not close enough for me to see, it's not close enough to hit me. Simple as that.

[Shaolinlueb]

i wear glasses cause they make me look like a stud...

and i cant see far away. if things are too blurry upclose, then get contacts or protective eye goggles.

[IronFist]

Originally posted by CaptinPickAxe
I wear glasses (well...contacts) and I'm just fine. Be warned, though, fighting with glasses is asking to have your nose broken.

Why's that?

[freehand]

The middle rests on our nose, focused on two small supports... any palm or forearm smash has much of the energy focused there.

I can see clearly about 8 inches in front of my face without glasses. The person-shaped blur I see in front of me is plenty to know where the kicks and strikes are, and you don't really need to see grappling at all.

It's a pain in the ...more vigorous arts, because I take off my glasses and put them safely off to the side to work on a combination, then have to run and retrieve them so I can see what the teacher is demonstrating, then run and put them away... But actually fighting/training? Not a problem.

If you ever have to fight a near-sighted master, throw rocks at him. When I was a kid the baseballs would drop right by my shoulder like Charley Brown. A white blur doesn't give much information for determining distance or speed.

My son got laser surgery and he now has near 20-20, with no problems.

[wall]

A frend who is an eye doctor tells me that eye surgery is best left to those who cannot stand contacts or have MAJOR problems (eg one eye FAR worse than the other etc).
If you have normal range problem (eg. shortsightedness around -3 to -7) and are fine with soft disposable contacts (no chance of injury even if you are punched in the eye) then laser surgery is not needed and in fact best avoided. There is only a small % chance of something going wrong, but why risk that small % if you are exactly the same with soft disposable contacts? Makes sense to me this logic, never had probswith soft contactsand they make just as able at sports as a 20/20 person, so why risk the surgery...

[manofkent]

"ask the surgeon about the increased risk of detached retinas if you're into contact sports."

The retina is at the back of ur eye. U stand a chance of brusing ur lens but only for the 1st four months.

"never had probs with soft contacts and they make just as able at sports as a 20/20 person, so why risk the surgery..."

I also have astigmatizm, witch means that no matter how strong my contacts are, i'll never have 20/20. i need Toric lenses, but they are really expensive and very painfull to wear.

[wall]

Manofkent,

I have astigmatism as well: with glasses I'm 20/20, with contacts probably 18/20 but that is plenty for training, can't really tell the difference unless you are reading far away streetsigns at night or such.

I have about -5 shortsightedness and -1 astigmatism. I wear glasses usually but for training or sports (snowboarding, surfing..) disposable acuevue contacts at -5.50. My eyesight is slightly worse with contacts, but we are talking marginal (I cannot tell unless I have to read something distant at night, then more difficult to focus).

W

[manofkent]

The problem is that contacts hurt my eyes and in the morning after ive worn them, my eyes are practicaly stuck together. i cant wear monthly ones so i wear daily, so its nothing to do with hygein. after a few nights in a row of wearing them for 2hrs each, i put them in and its really blured and i cant drive with them. and there so expencive. its gonna cost me £1,800 to get my eyes done. and at the moment i spend over £400 a yr on glasses, contacts, diffrent eye cleaners and drops.