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Recent Focus Clinics London research reveals that over half of all glasses-wearing women refuse to pose for a ‘selfie’ until they’ve taken off their specs first.
Glasses And Selfies – Do You Take Your Glasses Off?
The recent research suggests there’s still a negative stigma attached to wearing spectacles. Despite the fact that around 69 percent of all Brits wear corrective eyewear, many appear to want to hide that fact from social media.
Overall, a whopping 44 percent of females polled said their glasses were always removed before taking a self-portrait snap, compared to just 30 percent of males. Meanwhile, those aged 25-34 were the biggest glasses hiders, with 54 percent saying their Twitter and Instagram profiles were no specs zones.
Our Medical Director, Dr David Allamby, said:
“Brits have never had more choice when it comes to buying designer frames for their specs. But, as this study proves, there’s no getting away from the fact that there are still certain vanity implications for people who wear spectacles. Many simply don’t want to be seen wearing specs on their social media platforms. A large majority of people – 54 percent of those aged 25 to 34 – said they’d always remove their glasses before taking a ‘selfie’ photo.”
“Around 41 percent of women also said they’d never wear glasses while on a night out. If you want to ditch your glasses for good, there are always contact lenses – but they carry a six-fold higher risk of developing infections that can threaten a patient’s sight, compared to LASIK eye surgery. If you’re embarrassed about your glasses and want a safer option, we recommend laser eye surgery to correct vision. For most prescriptions we see, that’s a permanent correction.”
What Does Survey Data Say?
The survey, conducted on 1,000 Brits by OnePoll, found that glasses embarrassment diminished rapidly with age. Just 17 percent of those aged 55 and over said they’d remove their specs for a selfie and just 10 percent of the over 55s said they wouldn’t want to wear their glasses during a night out.
Our findings also mirror previous studies that have shown many women suffer from poor eyesight simply because they ‘don’t want glasses to ruin their looks’. In 2010, vision campaigners the Sight Care Group found that almost a quarter of females who need glasses in Britain – around 7.5 million in the UK – refuse to even get their eyes tested. The study also found most women who do need glasses would rather ‘squint’ than wear spectacles.
Data released in April this year by the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, found that if you wear contacts for 10 years, you’re six times more likely to develop an infection such as ‘microbial keratitis’ – that could potentially leave you blind.
But, you can radically reduce the chances of developing an infection by undergoing LASIK – aka ‘laser in situ keratomileusis’ – surgery, which works by changing the curvature of the cornea to correct vision.
And at Focus Clinics, we have a 100% 20/20 vision success rate for all common short-sighted prescriptions using our ‘A-LASIK’ technique.
