Wearing glasses - a disadvantage?

[CRiZZ76]

Hi people,

the only 2 (top) pros I can recall out of my head wearing glasses are of course Dennis Taylor and from todays world Martin Gould. I'm sure there are probably more but not many

Is this just pure coincedence or is there a disadvantage in having glasses instead of lets say contacs?

[Bigmeek]

IMO glasses are a distinct disadvantage. I don't think you can ever get the line of sight exactly spot on. More chance of good vision with contacts as they fit right over the eye. No substitute for 20/20 vision of course. I started with snooker glasses a few years back and find I get neck-ache with trying to sight throw the lense at the correct angle.

[damienlch]

I too feel that it is a disadvantage... tried contacts before... definitely sighted better than with glasses but I have an eye condition that prohibits me from wearing them often or for too long. So, it's back to the glasses...

[kgene]

I don't think Martin Gould even looks through his lenses. It appears he looks over the lenses when he is cueing.

[deant1982]

I am blind as a bat without glasses (normal prescription strength is between 1.5 and 2, mine is 9!), so have to use something. I started with glasses first, but the area surrounding them that I couldn't see in made me feel disorientated and ill, so I used contacts from then on. They are far superior for snooker, as glasses magnify objects to make them visible to you, where as lenses make objects visable at their correct size. (That is what I was told by my optition).
Good eyesight does help with this game, and although there are only a couple of players that have/do wear glasses, maybe a few more have worn lenses in the past but we've never known..
Dean

[RyanS]

I gave up playing for years because I couldn't see things properly anymore and didn't have the inclination to do anything about it. Earlier this year I became unemployed and needed something cheapish to do during the day while I was looking for work. I got fitted for contact lenses and I absolutely love them now. Not just for snooker but for everything else, wish I'd got them years ago.

[willtyson]

I am blind as a bat without glasses (normal prescription strength is between 1.5 and 2, mine is 9!), so have to use something. I started with glasses first, but the area surrounding them that I couldn't see in made me feel disorientated and ill, so I used contacts from then on. They are far superior for snooker, as glasses magnify objects to make them visible to you, where as lenses make objects visable at their correct size. (That is what I was told by my optition).
Good eyesight does help with this game, and although there are only a couple of players that have/do wear glasses, maybe a few more have worn lenses in the past but we've never known..
Dean

I'm pretty sure Marco Fu must wear contact lenses as I have seen photos of him wearing glasses, can't say I know of any more though :snooker:

[stanbunker]

Contact lenses through and through!
Thats not to say that you couldn't play with glasses but they do put you at a disadvantage.
If you do wear contact lenses its always worth making sure you put them on at least half an hour before a match to let your eyes settle into wearing them in the venue.

[Freddie Ng]

some people like me have dried eyes cant wear contact lens too long .. and have to put eye drop. if the match goes on too long it would be a disadvantage ..

[Terry Davidson]

freddieng:

See if you can try out gas permeable contact lenses which do not rely on the moisture content in your eyes like soft lenses and they also let the cornea get oxygen which is healthier than the softs.

I must admit though that I take along a little container of comfort drops when I play in our ranking tournaments as sometimes I have to play 3 best-of-7 matches in a day and by the end of the day my eyes are a little dry but the comfort drops by Boston Lens works very well.

These lenses will give the visual acuity of glasses without the distortion inherent in having the glasses off the eye.

Terry

[Freddie Ng]

thanks for the suggestion terry .. i'll give it a try.. whenever i'm wearing contact, i would carry a bottle of drops with me .. would you suggest glasses over contact lens ? or which is better ?

freddie

[Terry Davidson]

In my early days in the late 70's I tried glasses and even had a pair of Dennis Taylor's type of snooker glasses but I still found they were throwing me off because I could stand at the baulk end behind the brown spot and the side rails of the table seemed to bend in towards each other. I was near-sighted.

So I tried regular soft contact lenses and they worked fairly well but I found during a long day they would dry out and I would lose focus and have to blink repeatedly to get them back to the correct mode. Also, I was getting 'red eye' as these lenses in those days did not let oxygen through to the cornea.

Then, I visited an optomitrist who was also a keen snooker player and he recommended semi-rigid gas permeable lenses which are not quite as hard as regular hard contacts and also let the oxygen through but gave the visual acuity of glasses and much better than soft contacts.

I've been wearing the semi-rigid gas permeable lenses now for around 20 years and when I was working it was from 6am to at least 10pm, 7 days a week with no problems whatsoever except sometimes after wearing them for long hours I might put in a comfort drop as they may get a touch sticky, but the comfort drops (Boston Lens is the manufacturer) fix that up in quick time.

Now, I've had cataract lens replacement surgery where my surgeon ignored my request and made my left eye 20-20 (for driving) and my right eye 20-40 (for reading) but previously my right eye had been my best eye and it was my preferred eye. Now, with my contact lenses I have the left eye at 20-10 (slightly far sighted) and can see dust on the balls from 12ft away but unfortunately my right eye has moisture droplets behind the cornea and they can't fit me with a good contact lens that lasts for more than a day or two as my vision is always changing slightly in that eye. So my left eye is now my preferred eye.

A long explanation I know, but I can assure you if you can wear contacts that semi-rigid gas permeable are the way to go.

Terry

[deant1982]

Terry has again got it spot on. I was fitted with contact lenses when I was 11 (at the time, I was the youngest person the optition ever sold them to) as I was hevily into football (or "Soccer"), and being as blind as I was, glasses just weren't practicle. As I started playing snooker at 13, I played a few times in glasses, and found they were just no good at all. I'm very long sighted, so was advised the first time that Gas Permeable were the best for me. I have been wearing them ever since (I'm now 28) and generally don't have any issues wearing them for long periods of time.
If you're serious about snooker and improving your game, getting a set of GP contacts is definately the way to go.

The bit that amuses me, is that even though they are no where near as good, snooker glasses are a lot more expensive over a 3 year lifespan than contact lenses! Initial outlay for a good set of glasses is approx £500, GP contact lenses are about £80 one off, and about £40 per year to maintain/clean!

Dean

[Terry Davidson]

Just a suggestion which was given to me by an optomitrist in my area. He suggest I go to the University of Waterloo Contact Lens clinic for my contacts as they have all the best equipment and a number of good opthamologists on staff.

It turns out I get a set of gas permeable from the uni for $130 (including eye examination and prescription) and that works out to around the 80quid deant mentioned but I would suggest anyone thinking of getting contact lenses to check and see if their local uni has a contact lens clinic as you will get better service and also a better price too, expecially if your eyes are a bit tricky.

Terry

[rongreen]

As an "experienced" spectacle wearer (normal type) of some 50+years I don't feel personally at a disadvantage because there is no alternative for me, envy,yes sort of for the non spectacle players, should I have been able, prescription wise to wear contacts then I would no doubt think differently, just glad I can play in my everyday spec's rather than DT's type snooker spec's.