Craig, I'm nearsighted. Started wearing glasses when I was 12, switched to hard contact lenses when I was 15. Been wearing hard contact lenses ever since, not the same pair, though the first pair lasted for 11 years, never broke one never lost one. My second set of contacts were gas permeable, aka "rigid" contacts as opposed to "hard" (not gas permeable) contacts, they are not as durable or comfortable IMO as the old hard contacts. I have broken a couple of the rigid lenses. Wow, I've been wearing contacts for 30 years. Still don't need reading glasses, hopefully I won't any time soon.