Why do the French wear fewer and fewer glasses?

When driving, cycling, scootering or even in front of screens, fewer and fewer French people are wearing their prescription glasses even though they are prescribed for them. This is one of the astonishing results of “visual health barometer 2023” produced by OpinionWay for AsnaV.

Driving, cycling, scooters, screens: the French do not wear their glasses enough

So, the French do not wear their glasses:

• to drive a car: 42%, or 8 points more since 2021;

• to drive a 2-wheeler: 38%, or 22 points more since 2021;

• to travel by bike or scooter: 40%.

48% of respondents also admit to leaving their glasses next to their screens even though the majority (53%) admit to using their eyesight excessively due to the exponential use of this type of object.

Why are the French wearing their glasses less and less?

How to explain this trend? “The reasons given are diverse: people who do not wear their prescription glasses believe that they do not need them, that it will not bother them, forget them or even judge that they are no longer suitable”respond the authors of the survey.

For many of our fellow citizens, sight still remains the most precious sense. 89% of us say they pay attention to it and, among them, 57% say they have it checked regularly. “Having vision problems is more worrying than toothache, or even cardiovascular conditions,” specifies Asnav.

Many misconceptions about vision health persist

Last lesson from the barometer: many misconceptions about visual health persist in the minds of the French. Thus, 72% of those questioned are unaware that presbyopia is an anomaly that affects everyone after the age of 50. Even more serious, nearly 40% believe, wrongly, that not wearing glasses allows them to “make work” your eyes and you can notice the occurrence of a vision problem yourself. Finally, three quarters of respondents incorrectly believe that dark eyes are less fragile than light eyes.