Those who have seen me lately may have noticed the absence of glasses. Yes, I know my photo with this column is without glasses. We tried versions with and without glasses, and I liked the without version better.

I started wearing contact lenses in my 20s. Back then the lenses were rigid and covered the entire cornea. Adapting to them was a painful process. As lenses improved, they were made smaller and more flexible. Because of my astigmatism, I was never able to wear the soft lenses, but the gas permeable lenses were a little flexible.

I tended to wear my lenses too many hours, and eventuall...