Glasses or facial attire in self defence

Discussion in 'Self Defence' started by axelb, Oct 5, 2017.

  1. axelb

    axelb Master of Office Chair Fu

    Thinking about the interview and proceeding stages of self defence, sight plays a large part to read body language.
    With that in mind, and being moderately short sighted; I wear my glasses when possible, however if a situation were to escalate, they will get in the way.
    I've had bumps and contact with my glasses on and it's not fun having metal smashed into your face.

    How do others approach these scenarios? Contact lenses is another option, but I have MA friends who had them slip in sparring and needed to go to hospital.

    Laser eye surgery seems the other option, but drastic and costly?
     
  2. Rataca100

    Rataca100 Banned Banned

    Its surgery or deal with it basically. (it being contacts or glasses):p I dont think there is a nicer way i could have put that, thats if there is surgery available or a permanent treatment method i should say.

    The pro of glasses is, you have a weapon at least or you could mc guiver them to escape bindings. :p

    The only advice there may be is, get used to doing things without them.
     
  3. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    I wear contact lenses training and fighting all the time. Contacts have fallen out a handful of times. No big deal.

    My eyesight is also very very poor. So it's not like contacts aren't an option.
     
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  4. SCA

    SCA Former Instructor

    LASIK eye surgery permenantly weakens the cornea because a flap is created for the laser to reshape the surface below it, and heavy contact to the head can cause them to become dislodged. One of the risks to consider...
     
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  5. Southpaw535

    Southpaw535 Well-Known Member Moderator Supporter

    I remember asking before about ways to remove glasses in the interview stage if you're worried and can't leave, but without it coming across threateningly. The responses were basically "you can't, and it's going to suck getting hit with them on."

    Lasik seems drastic if you did it just for self defence fears. Contacts are fine in my experience, they fall out but I've never had one get trapped although I have heard of it happen.

    The only other thing I can say is my glasses don't have ear curves, the arms are straight all the way. Means they're not very secure, but it does help in these sort of ideas because a quick flip of my head can make them come off or at the very least if I got hit wearing them the punch would knock them off more than have them driven into my nose or my eyes. That's the only practical half solution I can offer.
     
    axelb likes this.
  6. axelb

    axelb Master of Office Chair Fu

    Yeah @Southpaw535 I cannot think of how I would unthreadingly remove the glasses without looking like someone out of an 80s action movie about to lay down some knuckles (or eat some knuckles in potential in real life)

    Do you have a type of contact lense?
    2 friend I know had "sports" contact lense, it's going back about 10 and 15 years when it happened in Kickboxing sparring so maybe they have improved since.

    I was also told that you have issue seeing at night after LASIK? I'm not sure if that was on the older surgery techniques.
     
  7. axelb

    axelb Master of Office Chair Fu

    On an additional note, I got into a situation once whist with friends, as a friend wasn't wearing his glasses and squinting at someone to see better came across negatively.
    Fortunately it didn't turn physical.
     
  8. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Bi-weekly contacts. Dailys are crap or they were a few years ago. These ones you put in solution overnight. They have fallen out a few times in training but never too bad. Once in a fight which was bad. In hindsight I could have called time out because it was an eye poke and it felt deliberate.


    But yeah, regular bi-weeklies, the brand is Oasys. £25 a month-ish.
     
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  9. Latikos

    Latikos Valued Member

    This is now more training related, sorry, if that doesn't count.
    During training I just put my glasses off; but then again I only had 0,75dioptries, so I nearly saw normal.

    What makes me write: I did some light sparring two weeks ago and suddenly my partner would need to stop, because she lost one of her lenses.
    Not sure how that would feel if it were to become a real fight?
    I mean - "seeing-wise" for the person wearing them?
    Would that confuse, make seeing difficult and therefore do more bad then it would good?

    Alternatively you could get a pair of sport-glasses.
    Sure, you'd look like you were wearing small diving goggles, but it wouldn't hurt too much if you'd get hit ;)



    On a more serious note:
    I'm honest to myself though: If I get to wear glasses again (it's basically just a question of time, I'm afraid, seeing everyone in my family got them sooner or later) I wouldn't think about it.
    I'm pretty sure, nothing will happen to me, since I don't live in a war zone.
    And if it were to happen, I'm also sure I wouldn't think about the glasses in that moment but more in the line of: "Sh!t. Nope. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Sh!t..." with worse words an in long repetition. And than hopefully being able to act properly.


    I'm a bad person.
    I just imagined myself with glasses like that, getting my Tics.
    Or actually just looking down a bridge and than waving after my glasses, because I'm lucky like that.
    Nope, I'm really glad, my glasses were slightly curved :oops::D
     
  10. Vince Millett

    Vince Millett Haec manus inimica tyrannis MAP 2017 Gold Award


    Agreed. They're the ones I use. Have fallen out three times in four years. Very comfortable. I have elbows and shoulders driven into my eyes fairly regularly (BJJ grappling) and it all goes a little blurry for a few seconds as the eye changes shape but the lenses remain in place.
     
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  11. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    There are other solutions now-adays.
    For instance, I use Ortho-K contact lenses, which you only wear at night while sleeping. They reshape your eyeball so you can see better.
    Basically a temporary lasik effect, without weakening your eyeballs. (In fact, it has long term good health effects for your eye, slowing macular degeneration.)
    The downside is you have to keep doing it every night--if you don't your vision reverts to normal within a few days.

    But it is a way to not have any eyewear on during the day, and still be able to see.
     
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  12. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Oh I've heard of that. Might give it a go.
     
  13. ReedyBoxer

    ReedyBoxer New Member

    I got a consultation for laser surgery in my left eye a few years ago and the only type that was suitable for me (can't remember if it was lasik or lasek) would rule out combat sports and even pretty much any rough activities in general. So I decided to just wait until about 15-20 years. I figure by that time I might not be so bothered about training to such a high intensity or there will be better technology/laser eye surgery procedures.
     
  14. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    I wear soft, daily disposable contact lenses. Put them in first thing in the morning, throw them away at night.

    They are ideal for MA.

    Occasionally I lose one on the thumb of an opponent, but otherwise they never fall or get knocked out. No solutions needed, no storage jars, and I just keep a few spares in my sparring kit bag and stick them in when needed.

    They're not suitable for all prescriptions though, and there is a price premium for them.

    Mitch
     
  15. Rataca100

    Rataca100 Banned Banned

    One: The way you worded that leaves a bad image in my head. *shivers*

    Two: Do you know or does anyone else know how well that would work if you needed to take them off mid night or fight in them? Im more curious about that, since the topic is self-defence, what if it was worn during that.
     
  16. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    So:
    - They are uncomfortable to wear. Very much so the first night, though with your eyes closed it isn't bad at all. After the first night they aren't bad. But not as comfortable as regular contacts. I can almost always tell when they are in. Sometimes in the morning, if my eyes aren't too dried out, I can't tell they are in still, but that is rare.

    - They are designed so that you don't have to take them out in an emergency--you can drive in them/etc. You can get full correction with them in. The correction when they are no longer in your eyes is only as good as re-shaping the surface of your eye can achieve--flaws inside the cornea can only currently be corrected with external lenses. So you will see as well or better with them in, than you do with them out. I get to 20/10 vision with lenses in (or glasses), 20/20 when they aren't in, and 20/50 | 20/60 uncorrected.

    - Like any hard contact lens, I imagine getting hit in the eye just right could cause it to break while in your eye? I imagine that wouldn't be good, at all.

    - Due to the discomfort, they would make fighting difficult; you may need to blink lots, your eyes will probably water up, etc.

    I take them out with a small plunger that suction cups to it. The doctor showed me another way that involves folding your eyelid a certain way and sorta scooping the contact out by pinching it between your upper & lower eyelids, but I've been unsuccessful at learning that way. (I haven't really given it more than a few tries--I will try again someday.)
     
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  17. SCA

    SCA Former Instructor

    That's interesting to visualize.

    Hopefully the plunger wasn't secretly refurbished from pixies.
     
  18. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    [​IMG]

    Tiny, smaller than a nerf dart.
     
  19. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

  20. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    What are the daily disposables bad at? I heard they are actually the best contacts you can wear becasause there are the least bacteria on them, when you take new ones each day. I used to use biweekly or even monthly ones, too, at a time when I used tham mostly for playing volleaball. However, having some dirt getting in wasn't very comfortable and it was quite hard to get it completely clean. So at the end of their lifespan, they were actually rather uncomfortable to wear. And sometimes when cleaning them, I tore one.... So I only use the daily disposables. And they are great. No dirt, no nothing, not using any solutions to store them. But I do not wear them on a daily basis, only for bigger events usually. I have 1,75 and 1,25 dioptries, so I usually do my karate classes without anything or take glasses for kata and stuff where I want to see myself in thr mirror.

    So I agree with Mitch:

     

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