Facts and Beliefs
Number ONE – FACT
However the first vision aid was created 1000 AD for the far sighted, called a reading stone that worked similarly to a magnifying glass from nowadays, glasses “as we know them today” only made their first appearance between 1285 and 1289. Traditionally they were made out of quartz set into bone, metal or leather and at that time they were mainly produced to help the elderly to read. Also interesting to know that glasses arms hadn’t been invented yet so it was hard if not impossible to keep these glasses on the nose for a long period of time. The Spanish tried to fix ribbons to the frames so you could wrap them around your head, but this idea proved unpopular and soon died out.
Number TWO – BELIEF
Out of all the attempts to improve vision, this has to be one of the strangest superstitions and folk remedies yet. In the past, many sailors believed that wearing gold earrings would improve your vision! The truth is Captains expressed the wealth of their ship by the amount and the size of their earrings.
Number THREE – FACT
In numerous African countries, the cost of eyeglasses can exceed more than three months’ worth of an average wage, whilst in the USA over four million pairs of glasses are discarded every single year.
Number FOUR – BELIEF
My eyes (vision) get worse from wearing glasses. – a sentence we often hear and also a myth that many people do believe in, but in fact it is false. Eyeglasses correct blurry vision therefore you may want to wear your glasses more often so that you can see clearly, but your glasses aren’t changing your eyes. Simply you’re just getting used to seeing things more clearly.
Similarly, wearing glasses with the wrong prescription or wearing somebody else’s glasses won’t ruin your eyes, you just won’t see well with them or at all.
Number FIVE – FACT
Now here’s something really interesting, we see contact lenses as an evolution of regular glasses, don’t we? In reality, the first prescription ‘lenses’ were actually similar to contact lenses! Records from 13th century Italy show that glass lenses were used to correct vision, but instead of mounting them in front of the eyes, they were placed directly into the eyes!
Number SIX – BELIEF
Contrary the common story that reading in dim light is harmful to your eyes, this is actually incorrect. Good lighting can reduce eye tiredness, but reducing lighting won’t damage your eyesight, just make reading harder.
Number SEVEN – FACT
You might remember Benjamin Franklin as one of two things, either as a founding father of the United States of America, or the guy who performed the lightning rod experiment. What many people don’t know, however, is that Benjamin Franklin was also the inventor of bifocals. He was both myopic and hypermetropic, so he developed these special lenses to help him see better. Talk about multi-talented!
