Whether you only wear glasses for reading, just use contact lens to better see the whiteboard, or need your prescription eyewear to see two feet in front of you, forgetting your glasses or contacts at home is a huge bummer, especially when you have a big day of work or school ahead. Luckily though, with a little common sense, a few easy tricks, and an abundance of helpful mobile apps, getting through a low-sight day at the office isn’t nearly as hard as it could be. In fact, with the proper preparation, it can be positively easy. Below are five of the best ways to get through such a day.

Keep a Spare Set at Work

If you can afford it, it never hurts to keep a spare set of glasses or contact lens in your work desk, locker, or car. Many eyewear providers even offer discount deals if you buy more than one set of your prescription at a time. If you can’t afford to buy two high-quality pairs of glasses, then it’s never a bad idea to test out a few of those cheap-o reading glasses that they sell at drug stores. With a little luck, you’ll find a pair that will get you through the day when you’ve left your normal glasses on your bedside table.

 

Pick Up a Cheap Pair at the Drug Store

If you don’t have a spare pair at work, you can still always run down to a nearby drugstore and pick up a cheap pair of reading glasses. Though they’ll likely be of slightly lesser quality than your prescription pair, they will get the job done and help you throughout the day.

 

Try Out One of Several Mobile Apps

The tech explosion in the last few years isn’t all about fun and games â€" it’s also about helping people in their daily lives. No single technology does this better than the variety of mobile apps that are now available on iPhones, Androids, and other smartphones. Perform a quick search in your phone’s app store for something along the lines of “vision improvement,” “forgot my glasses,” or “low-vision apps” and you’re sure to be bombarded with results. A few of the best for those days when you forget or lose your glasses are iMagnify and VisionAssist. They both turn your phone into a high-powered magnifying glass that helps you read fine print and see tiny objects.

 

Make Use of Your Computer’s Vision-Impaired Settings

If you have a computer-heavy job that requires that you stare at a screen all day, spending a day without your glasses can have a real strain on your eyes. However, your computer is loaded with settings for the vision-impaired that you can utilize to your benefit. The most useful of these settings are the ones that increase the size of the text on your screen. In some cases, new computers even come preset with nifty zoom-in functions so seeing something up close is a snap.

 

Improve Your Vision at Home

There’s never anything wrong with taking preventive action at home. And apart from making sure that you remember your glasses, strengthening your vision is the best way to do this. Similar to the ones mentioned above, there are a variety of vision improvements apps available that can help you increase your vision and improve your eyesight. GlassesOff is one of the most progressive among these. It is a scientist-backed brain-training app that helps your brain learn to process blurry images.

Forgetting your glasses before a big day at work or school can seem like the end of the world. But by following the five easy tips discussed above, you’ll find that it really isn’t too hard to power through a day without your trusty prescription eyewear.

Jack Douglas is an app developer with a penchant for vision enhancement apps. He likes sharing his findings on various tech blogs. Learn about ordering prescription lenses online by visiting the Lenstore.