One of the most exciting things you can see in a LASIK eye clinic is the large bowl displayed in the reception area, where people drop off the spectacles they will never need again.
That bowl, overflowing with glasses left behind by previous patients, is a symbol and reminder of the complete freedom of a post-LASIK existence. For patients who have already had their surgery, the bowl represents a new chapter in their lives. For those coming in for surgery, it is a heart-felt wish that they too will be adding their own glasses to the collection one day.
When the bowl is full, the glasses are sent off via America’s charity network to distant countries around the world where people cannot afford even basic eye care. It’s a double blessing therefore. Paying forward the generous gift of vision.
Alas, that is not so. In spite of everybody’s genuine desire to help, these used glasses are not really helping anybody.
In an international study, led by the International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE), it was found that for a variety of reasons, only 7% of the test sample of recycled glasses was actually useable.
Once the used specs were collected, packed up and shipped to their destination countries, they had to be sorted. In the first round of checking, the completely unusable ones were first discarded. Sometimes their condition was too poor to be worn again, because they had old lenses that were scratched, the hinges were broken or the plastic frames had brittled and cracked with age. Sometimes, the glasses had progressive lenses that were too customized to be of use to anyone unless they had the exact same prescription. Etcetera.
After this first process of sorting through the pile, someone had to test all the remaining pairs, using a focimeter to determine the prescription. Many pairs were found with differing power in each lens, or were designed to correct significant astigmatism. These also join the discarded pile.
According to the study, only 23% of the recycled glasses passed these first checks for usability, and only 7% finally came out as worthy of being worn by anyone.
To get just one pair of usable glasses from the pile, in other words, the charities had to do a thorough check on 15 donated pairs.
This study was published in the Optometry And Vision Science Journal, where lead author David A. Wilson wrote: “Because most donated spectacles proved to be unusable, this effectively meant that the donor organization had packaged and posted, at some considerable expense, spectacles destined to be discarded.” Well-meaning charities were wrapping up trash and sending them to places thousands of miles away, through expensive, international shipping network.
It is a sad thing to know that the glasses you give to charity is not helping people with no money to buy their own.
But there is another way you can respect the sanctity and symbolism of the `bowl’ at your LASIK clinic: by purchasing a standard pair of eye glasses from a drug store, and leaving that one behind when you leave. This way, for a cost of a few dollars, you know that your donation is guaranteed to be giving another human being the same joy of clear vision that you are enjoying right now!