It sat stationary at my table. I so much hate it and want to break it into thousands of pieces! It makes me feel embarrassed all the time, especially, when I see people without this ‘thing’ while I can’t stay too long without it. They have to be with me all the time… a reality I cannot deny.

I feel helpless without it. But I can’t even have it with me all the time! It’s just not practically possible. I feel awkward when I exercise with it. And if I go out in the rain, I am more concerned about keeping it dry than myself. It is only when I am asleep that it lays static on my side table, staring at me. They are my spectacles — my eyes.

People have different notions about those who wear spectacles constantly — mostly, negative. You are considered old-fashioned since specs are linked with some problem with one’s eyesight, the ones who wear them are commonly thought of ‘lacking’ in something — normal eyesight, that is.

Associating some kind of stereotype with as innocuous a thing as glasses – in fact, helpful —is something I call ‘stigma’.

Except for some confident boys and girls out there, many children face teasing remarks from friends and family, leaving a deep impact on their personality. For instance, your friends don’t wear glasses and make fun of the ‘unusual’ thing you are wearing, or there are bullies in your class who just can’t resist calling you stupid names, making you become self-conscious about your appearance. Therefore, children would not easily accept wearing spectacles due to the fear of being made fun of at school and anywhere else. Owing to this ‘stigma’, many suffer from problems related to their vision as they do not disclose it to their parents and try to manage, no matter how blur or unclear things appear to them, posing a great threat to their eyesight.

However, for wonderful kids like you, a piece of advice is that if you wear spectacles, then think positively about wearing glasses. And if the cool ‘Pirate’, Johnny Depp, has the glasses on during his most appearances at different occasions, there must be something cool about them. No?

So, you guessed that right: wearing glasses is not something good or bad per se. It’s the people who make it look so. And if you face pinching remarks, change your attitude — that’s the only way to quell unnecessary criticism.

With the fashion industry boom, things are getting definitions different to the earlier ones. For glasses, they are now thought of as fashion accessory rather than a ‘necessity’ whatsoever. In fact, with a huge collection in colours and shapes, glasses have become an important ‘add-on’ to one’s personality. Look around and you will find many people wear them just to give their personality a boost, a sober yet stylish, a charming yet confident, look. As you cannot avoid them, try to buy something that really goes well with your face and your personality.

Spectacles and the shape of your face

In the past, there used to be big, round/square specs with thick frames that hid most of the area around your eye and eyebrows. Now there is a huge array of trendy, unique frames with brilliant colours and designs made up of soft material that turning or twisting them is not a big deal.

Also, there are many thin frames available, so visually they are less noticeable. Remember  Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter? The round thin frame gave him a wise look! What you need to do is to analyse the shape of your face and buy a frame that goes well and fits your face —that’s really important.

Let’s have a surface analysis to give you an idea:

Round face: A round face has the same width and height with rounded features like chin and cheeks so you should have something angular; flat rectangular frames and lenses have the tendency to make round faces appear longer and the corners of the frames should be thinner, squared off and choose thin frames rather thicker ones which looks odd on round faces.

Square-shaped: Just like round, square shape has equal width and height with broad jaw bones that square the shape off and with sharper features. You may often appear very strict, so to soften the impression you should wear rounded yet thin frames.

Oval-shaped: It seems that the oval-shaped faces have most acceptability of the frames because they are taller than they are wide so most styles in the frames work wonder with them. Thick frames look great and they give more definition to the oval-shaped face, rectangular, circular or anything between will make you appear great.

Heart-shaped: While it is so easy to find frames and shapes for the oval-shaped, it is even more difficult for the heart-shaped face to find the best fit. The chin and the area at the cheeks are broad so they should stay away from the blocky or squire-shaped frames which could give an odd impression.

Wearing frames has a direct impact on how you look when you wear them: if you wear the right frame, you are sure to leave a great impression on people, or you could be the object of fun otherwise. So, choose wisely.

Handle specs with care

You may be fed up of cleaning glasses again and again, as they get easily smudged and you have to wipe the dirt all the time. However, they are the important and you need to be very careful about them.

For wiping the dirt off from the lenses, keep a separate cleaning cloth. The lenses get easily scratched, and not every cloth is suitable for cleaning and the surface can get easily damaged.

The frame should be comfortable enough to sit on your nose and ear — loose glasses could fall easily and tight fitted could leave a mark on your nose as well as give strain on your temple and ear.

When you are not wearing glasses, put them in their case, as putting them anywhere without their cover is risky, they could break, twist, etc.

Some tips to take care of your eyesight

• Squinting and straining one’s eye is really harmful, you may be worried over exam preparation but it doesn’t mean that you make your eyes suffer.

• If you are reading for a long time, or working on computer or anything like that, take your eyes off from it for at least five minutes.

• It is believed that dim light damages the vision, however, too much light also does the same. So keep the lights moderate and decrease the brightness of your monitor so that your eyes do not get exhausted.

• Wear sun glasses outdoors, make sure that the glasses are dark enough to block the UV radiation which can seriously damage your vision.

• Walk on lawn barefoot, preferably, early morning.

• To keep a check on your vision, visit the eye specialist every year.

• Eating right: Vegetable and fruits possess tonnes of vitamins, essentially beneficial for your overall body but when it comes to eyes, eat foods that have beta carotene in them, sweet potato, carrots, spinach , etc.

• Take vitamins C,A and E, folic acid, selenium, and zinc. They are also very beneficial for your eyes.

• Warning signs: Whenever something wrong is going inside our body, it gives indications, or warning signs, and this is true for our eyes too! Eye fatigue is one sign, blurry vision, having trouble in focusing, headache, red eyes, or having itching or pain in the eyes… these are some of the symptoms or warning signs that something really creepy is going on with your eyes. If any of these occur, tell your parents immediately and visit an eye specialist as soon as you can.

When you wear specs, be confident and think of yourself as nothing but smart, fashionable and beautiful!