Health

Are Contacts More Expensive Than Glasses?

We're putting together an editorial staff that reflects our broad audience and their various financial circumstances. We value and encourage the experiences and perspectives that help us connect with our readers, answer their questions, and win their trust. Please read our disclosure for more information.
Updated on November 23, 2022 by
Are Contacts More Expensive Than Glasses?

CommonCentsMom.com is advertiser-supported: we may earn compensation from the products and offers mentioned in this article. However, any expressed opinions are our own and aren't influenced by compensation. The contents of the CommonCentsMom.com website, such as text, graphics, images, and other material contained on this site (“Content”) are for informational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional financial or legal advice. Always seek the advice of your Financial Advisor, CPA and Lawyer with any questions you may have regarding your situation. Never disregard professional advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website!

Contacts or glasses can help people who have conditions that affect their vision (astigmatism, far-sightedness, and near-sightedness). While eyeglasses may be used most often, contact lenses have long been touted as a more comfortable and reliable alternative. Approximately 71% of the US people who have vision problems wear glasses and an additional 22% wear contact lenses.

Glasses Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Easy to maintain: To keep your glasses clean, simply put them in a special case when you are not wearing them and wiping the lenses every so often.
  • Easy to wear: The shape and size of the glasses are made to be comfortable to wear for any age group. You can easily wear it over the top of the nose and use it to sit on top of the ears.
  • Cost-efficient: You can wear your glasses for many years without changing them. You may be able to find more affordable glasses and frames if you have a limited budget.

Cons

  • Not always comfortable to wear: Sometimes wearing glasses is difficult if you live a busy life or if you play a lot of sports. Wearing glasses when it’s cold and raining or when it’s foggy can cause your vision to be blurred.
  • Distort your vision: Some are affected by having blurred vision or difficulty focusing on things when they start to wear glasses. This can get better with time; it may still be annoying at first.
  • Can be thick: People with very high prescriptions can become very bulky and unattractive, as they need thick lenses and strong frames to keep the lenses in place.

Contacts Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Invisible: It’s very difficult to tell someone when you are not using contact lenses. Particularly if the contacts are clear or if the color matches your own eye color.
  • Ideal for active people: People who live busy and active lives find it easier to wear contacts. Even when you have contacts on, you can easily do sports as well as exercise.
  • Give full field of vision: Contact lenses are specially formed to fit the shape of the eye. In addition, it provides a greater field of vision for the wearers and fewer distortions than a pair of glasses might cause.
  • Can be worn almost at any moment: Contact lenses do well even when it’s very foggy outside, and they do well even when it rains or if there is a lot of mud or dirt.

Cons

  • Hard to maintain: It’s extremely necessary to take good care of your contacts every day to avoid infection.
  • Hard to put in: Some individuals, particularly those who are wearing contact lenses for the first time, may have difficulty putting them into the eyes.
  • Can be costly: Contact lenses need replacing frequently, and this can cause them to cost more than glasses for the long run.
  • Can dry out: Contact lenses dry eyes for people who wear them. Even though eye drops may help you do that, having to use them each time you put on contacts can be annoying.

Are Contacts More Expensive Than Glasses?

Are Contacts More Expensive Than Glasses?

Comparative cost for glasses and contact lenses is hard to do, because many variables are involved in determining what is the most expensive. It may also affect the style of frames that you buy; which is more suitable, depending on if you need basic or designer glasses, or if you need lenses that are more complicated like astigmatic or varifocal lenses; and how it affects the lenses that you choose such as anti reflection coatings, polarization, UV protection, etc.

The price of contact lenses is set. If your contact lenses are worn on a regular basis, you know precisely how much you will purchase each month. If your contact lenses are worn continuously you must add on the cost of a lens if it needs to be replaced, but this cost is fixed. It also has an extra cost to have your lenses checked and changed each year.

Monthly Contacts

The price of a contact lens for a month can be very different based on which brand you choose and if it is silicone hydrogel or not. Popular contact lenses like Air Optix plus Hydraglyde retail for $19.38 per box of 3 lenses, which amounts to $153.22 for one year supply.

It may be useful to remember that you do not pay it all at one time for lenses you have bought; you pay it every month for the amount of lenses you have bought. If all you do is use one bottle of solution every month, that cost could even be less.

Daily Contacts

It may look a little more costly to have daily contacts, but they are actually quite reasonably priced because you do not have to pay for a month to have a new set of lenses fitted. Popular pack of 1 Day Acuvue TruEye lenses each day cost $27.68 per box, which equates to £575.76 for a year, or $664.29 every month.

If you wear daily contacts, no special glasses or contact lens solution is needed; it is best for you and your eyes, and you are able to see everything clearly even in the dark.

Continuous Wear Contacts

Popular contacts like Air Optix Night & Day Aqua lenses are very durable and can be used for up to 30 days and also nights. It costs around $31.09 to get three of the lenses, that is about $248.75 every year.

You can put these continuous contacts in each month and then just take them out at the end of the month and put a new pair in. Having a good pair of contact lenses that allow you to wear them continuously can give you the feeling that you are not even using contacts or glasses.

Conclusion

It may be necessary to have a pair of glasses even though you have all the options for contact lenses. Also, if there are any issues or problems with wearing contact lenses, it’ll help to take a break for several hours or maybe a day or two. Overall, people have the choice to have contacts or glasses, and while contact lenses are slightly more costly than glasses, there are more important factors to consider than price alone.

(Visited 109 times, 1 visits today)

🏔 Read Next 🏔

Best Side Hustles of 2023

The 27 highest paying side hustles you can start today.

View article ➞

The Common Cents Mom Newsletter

Join thousands of curious consumers getting the inside scoop.