Does a high percentage of programmers wear glasses?



  • I think I might be getting glasses soon. I have seen everyone around the office wear them. Some girls prfer contacts, instead of glasses.

    So what is your opinion?

    Also carrot juice taken in large doses can restore eyesight to 20/20 vision. Is that old-wife's tale?


  • 🚽 Regular

    I refuse to wear glasses, so I can't tell if any of my collegues wear glasses.



  • @RHuckster said:

    I refuse to wear glasses, so I can't tell if any of my collegues wear glasses.

    Wow! Appreciate your honesty! Atleast, you're able to see code on your screen. What font-seize are you using?


  • 🚽 Regular

    @Nagesh said:

    Wow! Appreciate your honesty! Atleast, you're able to see code on your screen. What font-seize are you using?

     

    What did I just tell you? I don't wear glasses, so how can I tell what font size I'm using?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Nagesh said:

    So what is your opinion?
    I had glasses and/or contacts from the age of 14 to Dec '09 to correct both myopia and astigmatism.



    Eventually got sick of both glasses and lenses (the last straw was when I couldn't order contact lenses online because I refused to pay an optometrist extra for an up-to-date contact lens prescription when my lens prescription hadn't changed in the same 10 years,) so I had laser surgery.



    Never looked back (pun intended) and wish I'd had it done sooner.



    No sign (yet) of needing glasses for presbyopia, though it's been noted that having laser surgery can bring the onset on faster than it normally would have appeared.



    @Nagesh said:
    Also carrot juice taken in large doses can restore eyesight to 20/20 vision. Is that old-wife's tale


    http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/238/if-you-eat-too-many-carrots-will-you-turn-orange



  • @PJH said:

    @Nagesh said:
    So what is your opinion?
    I had glasses and/or contacts from the age of 14 to Dec '09 to correct both myopia and astigmatism.

    Eventually got sick of both glasses and lenses (the last straw was when I couldn't order contact lenses online because I refused to pay an optometrist extra for an up-to-date contact lens prescription when my lens prescription hadn't changed in the same 10 years,) so I had laser surgery.

    Never looked back (pun intended) and wish I'd had it done sooner.

    No sign (yet) of needing glasses for presbyopia, though it's been noted that having laser surgery can bring the onset on faster than it normally would have appeared.

    @Nagesh said:
    Also carrot juice taken in large doses can restore eyesight to 20/20 vision. Is that old-wife's tale
    http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/238/if-you-eat-too-many-carrots-will-you-turn-orange

    1) Is Laser surgery painful? Also is there possibility of going blind if there's an accident during laser surgery.

    2) Is Laser surgery expensive? I suppose this is a loaded question. What's expensive for me might be cheap for you.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Nagesh said:

    1) Is Laser surgery painful?
    No. The anxiety, if any, is worse than any pain you experience; they used copious amounts of local anaesthetic when they did mine.

    Also is there possibility of going blind if there's an accident during laser surgery.
    If you mean totally/all of the light receptors vanishing in a puff of smoke blind, no. The procedure basically involves temporarily removing a thin layer/flap of part of the front of your eye, removing some tissue from top of the freshly exposed surface, and replacing the flap. The laser hardly penetrates into the tissue, let alone through your eye to devastate the entire back of your eyeball. There is a possibility (though very small) that the surgery could make your eyesight worse, though the better companies will warn you of this if it's an issue, or even refuse to operate on you.

    The different procedures (LASIK/LASEK) generally differ in how they create that flap, and the recovery time for it to heal afterwards.
    2) Is Laser surgery expensive? I suppose this is a loaded question. What's expensive for me might be cheap for you.
    From a UK POV, I'd say yes, considering almost all non-elective surgery, and some elective surgery, is 'free at the point of use,' and most elective surgery (laser-eye, face-lifts, breast reduction/enlargement) must be paid for by the patient.

    Mine cost on the order of £3,500 for the pair, but I managed to get an interest free loan to cover it, so while I consider it expensive, it won't break the bank, and I consider it worth it for the non-monetary benefits I've had because of it. (No hunting for glasses in the morning, no breaking them when I fall asleep with them on, no scratched lenses, no having to clean them every 5 minutes, able to watch TV in bed, no steaming up of lenses when going from cold to warm areas, no 'foggy' vision when I forget to take my contact's out the night before, no losing contacts, no cleaning contacts...)


  • @PJH said:

    @Nagesh said:
    1) Is Laser surgery painful?
    No. The anxiety, if any, is worse than any pain you experience; they used copious amounts of local anaesthetic when they did mine.
    Also is there possibility of going blind if there's an accident during laser surgery.
    If you mean totally/all of the light receptors vanishing in a puff of smoke blind, no. The procedure basically involves temporarily removing a thin layer/flap of part of the front of your eye, removing some tissue from top of the freshly exposed surface, and replacing the flap. The laser hardly penetrates into the tissue, let alone through your eye to devastate the entire back of your eyeball. There is a possibility (though very small) that the surgery could make your eyesight worse, though the better companies will warn you of this if it's an issue, or even refuse to operate on you.

    The different procedures (LASIK/LASEK) generally differ in how they create that flap, and the recovery time for it to heal afterwards.
    2) Is Laser surgery expensive? I suppose this is a loaded question. What's expensive for me might be cheap for you.
    From a UK POV, I'd say yes, considering almost all non-elective surgery, and some elective surgery, is 'free at the point of use,' and most elective surgery (laser-eye, face-lifts, breast reduction/enlargement) must be paid for by the patient.

    Mine cost on the order of £3,500 for the pair, but I managed to get an interest free loan to cover it, so while I consider it expensive, it won't break the bank, and I consider it worth it for the non-monetary benefits I've had because of it. (No hunting for glasses in the morning, no breaking them when I fall asleep with them on, no scratched lenses, no having to clean them every 5 minutes, able to watch TV in bed, no steaming up of lenses when going from cold to warm areas, no 'foggy' vision when I forget to take my contact's out the night before, no losing contacts, no cleaning contacts...)

    Thanks for the useful information.

    That is about INR 274,000 which is roughly my annual pay after taxes. On the bright side with sky rocketing inflation in India, I might be able to afford a pair for INR  4000.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Nagesh said:

    @PJH said:
    order of £3,500 for the pair,

    Thanks for the useful information.

    That is about INR 274,000 which is roughly my annual pay after taxes. On the bright side with sky rocketing inflation in India, I might be able to afford a pair for INR  4000.

    Your comparison applies only if you were earning the money in India, and paying for it in the UK. And you're ignoring the healthcare situation (I'm ignorant over the healthcare policies in anywhere other than the UK and, superficially, in the US.)

    Prices in India would, I suspect, be less.

    For vague comparison, it equates to around 10% of my gross pay for a year or 15% of net pay. (Gross and net figures exclude stuff such as salary sacrifice for those in the UK bothering to calculate my salary.)


  • I need glasses only for watching things far away. For watching the computer screen I am working on, I can see it better without glasses.



  • @PJH said:

    @Nagesh said:
    @PJH said:
    order of £3,500 for the pair,

    Thanks for the useful information.

    That is about INR 274,000 which is roughly my annual pay after taxes. On the bright side with sky rocketing inflation in India, I might be able to afford a pair for INR  4000.

    Your comparison applies only if you were earning the money in India, and paying for it in the UK. And you're ignoring the healthcare situation (I'm ignorant over the healthcare policies in anywhere other than the UK and, superficially, in the US.)

    Prices in India would, I suspect, be less.

    For vague comparison, it equates to around 10% of my gross pay for a year or 15% of net pay. (Gross and net figures exclude stuff such as salary sacrifice for those in the UK bothering to calculate my salary.)

    It is roughly 50% of my annual gross pay. Also I think my glases might go away with regular eye exercises.

    There are some yoga exercises which will result in strong eyesight. Hopefully they will work for me. The cure is not instant like Lasik, but the benefits are long lasting. Takes about 6 - 8 months for one point to come down. So if you have -1 power glass, it will take six months - 8 months to get it down to -0.75 power. Eventually you will reach zero power. then no more glasses.

    Currently I have one eye power -0.25 and the other eye -0.50.



  • @Nagesh said:

    There are some yoga exercises which will result in strong eyesight. Hopefully they will work for me. The cure is not instant like Lasik, but the benefits are long lasting. Takes about 6 - 8 months for one point to come down. So if you have -1 power glass, it will take six months - 8 months to get it down to -0.75 power.
     

    Dubious. How does it work?

    @Nagesh said:

    Eventually you will reach zero power. then no more glasses.

    Intensely dubious.

    @Nagesh said:

    Currently I have one eye power -0.25 and the other eye -0.50.

    That kind of strength is off-the-shelf here.

    I'm -10 on both. Total price + frame was €650.



  • @dhromed said:

    @Nagesh said:

    There are some yoga exercises which will result in strong eyesight. Hopefully they will work for me. The cure is not instant like Lasik, but the benefits are long lasting. Takes about 6 - 8 months for one point to come down. So if you have -1 power glass, it will take six months - 8 months to get it down to -0.75 power.
     

    Dubious. How does it work?

    @Nagesh said:

    Eventually you will reach zero power. then no more glasses.

    Intensely dubious.

    Yes, I don't believe in that either, I use glasses as well, at some point I'll try surgery (it's free) but I'm too busy most of the time and convincing my boss to actually be away from work enough time to recuperate is going to be tough (not that I'm important)



  • @serguey123 said:

    @dhromed said:

    @Nagesh said:

    There are some yoga exercises which will result in strong eyesight. Hopefully they will work for me. The cure is not instant like Lasik, but the benefits are long lasting. Takes about 6 - 8 months for one point to come down. So if you have -1 power glass, it will take six months - 8 months to get it down to -0.75 power.
     

    Dubious. How does it work?

    @Nagesh said:

    Eventually you will reach zero power. then no more glasses.

    Intensely dubious.

    Yes, I don't believe in that either, I use glasses as well, at some point I'll try surgery (it's free) but I'm too busy most of the time and convincing my boss to actually be away from work enough time to recuperate is going to be tough (not that I'm important)

    have you seen yoga videos of Ramdev baba? Do search on youtube. he's highly renowned yoga practictionar in India.
    He's real deal. He has made a lot of people lose weight, control diabetes and also help pregnant women ease birth pain through yoga.

    I believe that you're either born with belief or without it. I used to called "tubby" in school. Now I have reduced my body fat through regular breathing exercise proposed by Ramdeo Baba.



  • @Nagesh said:

    have you seen yoga videos of Ramdev baba? Do search on youtube. he's highly renowned yoga practictionar in India.
    He's real deal. He has made a lot of people lose weight, control diabetes and also help pregnant women ease birth pain through yoga.

    I believe that you're either born with belief or without it. I used to called "tubby" in school. Now I have reduced my body fat through regular breathing exercise proposed by Ramdeo Baba.

    I have seen a lot of stuff, if you hang around the internet for a while you will too, the guy might be a scam or not, I don't contest the benefits of yoga as an exercise to lead a more healthy life.  The human body and the mind are wonderful tool capable of a lot however there is a limit to everything.  If for example I cut your legs I don't believe any ammount of yoga or any other exercise or diet or whatever (except perhaps stem cell research) is going to make them grow back, same with the eyesight when the problem is anatomic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myopia

    Guess I'm a skeptic


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @serguey123 said:

    I'll try surgery (it's free) but I'm too busy most of the time and convincing my boss to actually be away from work enough time to recuperate is going to be tough (not that I'm important)
    I had mine done on a Friday evening, and I was ok for work the following Monday. Wasn't able (allowed) to drive for about a week however.



  • @PJH said:

    @serguey123 said:
    I'll try surgery (it's free) but I'm too busy most of the time and convincing my boss to actually be away from work enough time to recuperate is going to be tough (not that I'm important)
    I had mine done on a Friday evening, and I was ok for work the following Monday. Wasn't able (allowed) to drive for about a week however.

    But that would imply not being able to work a Saturday (the horror), also at least here you have to do some test (there is glaucoma in my family so more test for that) to ensure it is safe (I when to remove my tonsils and the guy next to me died, let me clarify that his operation was more complex than mine but one does try to thread carefully after that) to do surgery and that takes some time (the health care system in my country has it share of wtf) so by my calculation I will need to allocate at least 5 possibly non consecutive days



  •  Seeing as we're on the subject a close friend of mine went through with it. It cost around 3000 euros and he had to take 2-3 weeks off work afterwards because the computer screen hurt his eyes. He also had somewhat blurry vision for a while and at first his eyes felt like he had left his contacts on for a couple of days. All in all it took a few months for everything to stabilize.

     A friend of his also had the operations and had sharp pain in his eyes at first although it all worked out in the end. Amusingly enough his myopia was small to begin with and apparently after the surgery he had better than normal vision. So basically you can get superpowers as well.



  • @Nagesh said:

    Currently I have one eye power -0.25 and the other eye -0.50.

     

    I'll second the previous sentiment and be like... "seriously? I wish I had such awesome eyesight!" 

     

    I'm -3.5 in one eye, and I think -1.75/-1.0 astigmatism in the other.  This is not "blind" but it's not great.

     

    (PS - it must surely be some kind of sad geek cred to know your own optical prescription.)



  • I'm a programmer and I have slightly better than 20/20 vision. Never needed glasses, contacts, or surgery =).

     *puts on flame-retardant suit*



  • @mott555 said:

    I'm a programmer and I have slightly better than 20/20 vision. Never needed glasses, contacts, or surgery =).

    Same goes for some of my friends. Like, reading dialog text on a monitor... from across the room.

    I am, of course, insanely jealous.



  • @mott555 said:

    I'm a programmer and I have slightly better than 20/20 vision. Never needed glasses, contacts, or surgery =).
    Can we ban mott555?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @DOA said:

    @mott555 said:

    I'm a programmer and I have slightly better than 20/20 vision. Never needed glasses, contacts, or surgery =).
    Can we ban mott555?

    Only if I ban myself (though I have surgery to blame.) As alluded to up-thread, I now have better than 20/20 (6/6) vision due to the operation. Nothing super human though. Probably about 20/15.



    Not that I expect it to last. I'm currently awaiting the need for reading glasses.



  • Do lots of programmers wear glasses? Yes. There's a correlation between doing lots of reading and needing glasses.

    @Nagesh said:

    Also carrot juice taken in large doses can restore eyesight to 20/20 vision. Is that old-wife's tale?

    It's not quite an old wives tale, but the link is spurious. During the Battle of Britain, Allied pilots were shooting down Luftwaffe planes at night, using top-secret airborne radar. In an attempt to preserve the secret (and also to encourage little boys to eat carrots...), they put it about that their pilots were eating lots of carrots to improve their night-vision.

    Maybe I'm overcautious, but I won't be getting laser eye surgery for a few decades yet. I want other people to have lived with the effects for as long as I'm likely to have to, before I commit. I do wonder what happens if you have laser surgery now, and then your sight deteriorates further - can it be redone? Also, complications, although rare, can result in blindness in extreme cases.

    I understand the skepticism people have over the yoga, but there could be something in it. It is known to be possible to do exercises to improve ocular muscle tone, so it's not impossible that it might help.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @intertravel said:

    I do wonder what happens if you have laser surgery now, and then your sight deteriorates further - can it be redone?
    Sometimes. Depends on how much tissue they removed the first time.



    To mitigate it though, it's strongly recommended that you not have surgery until you're at least 18 and your prescription is relatively stable (one cites 12 months.)



  •  Okay, i have some simple tips for you.

    First, if you still can see a thing with your two eyes right now then I'm telling you do not wear a glasses. because it only make it worst. Trust me, i have experience about this.

    Here my tips, make carrot juice every morning, afternoon and evening. Drink three glass in a day. do it in one month continousl, Im sure you'll see the effect after in a month :)



  • @juliaestelleo said:

     Okay, i have some simple tips for you. [bunk]
     

    Uhu.



  • I dream of being able to have laser surgery. My good eye is over -10 and also have astigmatism of about -1.25 in both eyes. What I'm currently looking to have done is have intra ocular lenses but the price is a bit to high for me at the moment.



  • @ageing student said:

    I dream of being able to have laser surgery. My good eye is over -10 and also have astigmatism of about -1.25 in both eyes. What I'm currently looking to have done is have intra ocular lenses but the price is a bit to high for me at the moment.

    [color=#CC0000]H[/color][color=#C20900]o[/color][color=#B81300]w[/color][color=#AE1D00] [/color][color=#A42700]m[/color][color=#9A3100]u[/color][color=#903B00]c[/color][color=#864500]h[/color][color=#7C4F00] [/color][color=#725900]d[/color][color=#686300]o[/color][color=#5E6D00]e[/color][color=#547700]s[/color][color=#4A8100] [/color][color=#408B00]l[/color][color=#369500]a[/color][color=#2C9F00]s[/color][color=#22A900]e[/color][color=#18B300]r[/color][color=#0EBD00] [/color][color=#04C700]c[/color][color=#04C700]o[/color][color=#0EBD00]s[/color][color=#18B300]t[/color][color=#22A900] [/color][color=#2C9F00]i[/color][color=#369500]n[/color][color=#408B00] [/color][color=#4A8100]y[/color][color=#547700]o[/color][color=#5E6D00]u[/color][color=#686300]r[/color][color=#725900] [/color][color=#7C4F00]c[/color][color=#864500]o[/color][color=#903B00]u[/color][color=#9A3100]n[/color][color=#A42700]t[/color][color=#AE1D00]r[/color][color=#B81300]y[/color][color=#C20900]?[/color]



  • @juliaestelleo said:

     Okay, i have some simple tips for you.

    First, if you still can see a thing with your two eyes right now then I'm telling you do not wear a glasses. because it only make it worst. Trust me, i have experience about this.

    Here my tips, make carrot juice every morning, afternoon and evening. Drink three glass in a day. do it in one month continousl, Im sure you'll see the effect after in a month :)

    [color=#CC0000]A[/color][color=#C80300]r[/color][color=#C40700]e[/color][color=#C00B00] [/color][color=#BD0E00]y[/color][color=#B91200]o[/color][color=#B51600]u[/color][color=#B21900] [/color][color=#AE1D00]o[/color][color=#AA2100]f[/color][color=#A72400]f[/color][color=#A32800]e[/color][color=#9F2C00]r[/color][color=#9C2F00]i[/color][color=#983300]n[/color][color=#943700]g[/color][color=#913A00] [/color][color=#8D3E00]t[/color][color=#894200]h[/color][color=#864500]e[/color][color=#824900]s[/color][color=#7E4D00]e[/color][color=#7B5000] [/color][color=#775400]f[/color][color=#735800]r[/color][color=#705B00]o[/color][color=#6C5F00]m[/color][color=#686300] [/color][color=#656600]p[/color][color=#616A00]e[/color][color=#5D6E00]r[/color][color=#5A7100]s[/color][color=#567500]o[/color][color=#527900]n[/color][color=#4F7C00]a[/color][color=#4B8000]l[/color][color=#478400] [/color][color=#448800]e[/color][color=#408B00]x[/color][color=#3C8F00]p[/color][color=#389300]e[/color][color=#359600]r[/color][color=#319A00]i[/color][color=#2D9E00]e[/color][color=#2AA100]n[/color][color=#26A500]c[/color][color=#22A900]e[/color][color=#1FAC00] [/color][color=#1BB000]o[/color][color=#17B400]r[/color][color=#14B700] [/color][color=#10BB00]d[/color][color=#0CBF00]o[/color][color=#09C200] [/color][color=#05C600]y[/color][color=#01CA00]o[/color][color=#01CA00]u[/color][color=#05C600] [/color][color=#09C200]h[/color][color=#0CBF00]a[/color][color=#10BB00]v[/color][color=#14B700]e[/color][color=#17B400] [/color][color=#1BB000]s[/color][color=#1FAC00]o[/color][color=#22A900]m[/color][color=#26A500]e[/color][color=#2AA100] [/color][color=#2D9E00]k[/color][color=#319A00]i[/color][color=#359600]n[/color][color=#389300]d[/color][color=#3C8F00] [/color][color=#408B00]o[/color][color=#438800]f[/color][color=#478400] [/color][color=#4B8000]w[/color][color=#4F7C00]a[/color][color=#527900]s[/color][color=#567500]t[/color][color=#5A7100]e[/color][color=#5D6E00]d[/color][color=#616A00] [/color][color=#656600]i[/color][color=#686300]n[/color][color=#6C5F00]t[/color][color=#705B00]e[/color][color=#735800]r[/color][color=#775400]e[/color][color=#7B5000]s[/color][color=#7E4D00]t[/color][color=#824900] [/color][color=#864500]i[/color][color=#894200]n[/color][color=#8D3E00] [/color][color=#913A00]s[/color][color=#943700]e[/color][color=#983300]l[/color][color=#9C2F00]l[/color][color=#9F2C00]i[/color][color=#A32800]n[/color][color=#A72400]g[/color][color=#AA2100] [/color][color=#AE1D00]c[/color][color=#B21900]a[/color][color=#B51600]r[/color][color=#B91200]r[/color][color=#BD0E00]o[/color][color=#C00B00]t[/color][color=#C40700]s[/color][color=#C80300]?[/color]



  • @Nagesh said:

    Experimenting Rainbow
     

    Yeah, I don't think that  experiment's going to work out.



  • @dhromed said:

    @Nagesh said:

    Experimenting Rainbow
     

    Yeah, I don't think that  experiment's going to work out.

    Unless the desired result was to annoy the people that read your posts.  If so good job, mission acomplished, we can go home now!



  • @serguey123 said:

    @dhromed said:

    @Nagesh said:

    Experimenting Rainbow
     

    Yeah, I don't think that  experiment's going to work out.

    Unless the desired result was to annoy the people that read your posts.  If so good job, mission acomplished, we can go home now!

    There is still time for me to go home. What is the time in your timezone? I am GMT + 5:30



  • @Nagesh said:

    @serguey123 said:

    @dhromed said:

    @Nagesh said:

    Experimenting Rainbow
     

    Yeah, I don't think that  experiment's going to work out.

    Unless the desired result was to annoy the people that read your posts.  If so good job, mission acomplished, we can go home now!

    There is still time for me to go home. What is the time in your timezone? I am GMT + 5:30

    I still have two more hours to go :(


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