Finally determine to get a Hearing Aid - Find out I need glasses too (cysts, skin)

[AfricanAustraliaCanada]

I've had quite significant hearing loss in my right ear for most of my life. My ears were always causing issues when I was a child and I counted at least 5 grommet operations on my left ear and well over 5 in my right. I ended up having no eardrum in my right ear and so I had to have a Tympanoplasty surgery when I was 10. As a result of the skin grafts I had to have two further surgeries to remove cysts from in front and behind my right ear. After all this I have been left with moderately severe hearing loss which has been causing issues that I can no longer ignore. I finally decided to visit an audiologist and discuss hearing aid options.

A week or two later I decided to get my eyes check because it is free while we are in Australia but won't be when we first get to Canada. I have been told that I need glasses as I have astigmatism.

I am turning 30 in a week but I look like I am in my very early twenties or even my teens. I don't know why but the idea of having both a hearing aid AND glasses has unsettled me a bit.

Is there anyone out there who is like me and who has both a hearing aid and glasses and is under 40? Do you find people treat you differently? Or, on the same note, do young people with just hearing aids find that people treat them differently from before?

I suppose this is all a sign of getting older and it is better to see and hear well than to be constantly asking people to repeat themselves or to get headaches from reading with bad eyes.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by AfricanAustraliaCanada

I've had quite significant hearing loss in my right ear for most of my life. My ears were always causing issues when I was a child and I counted at least 5 grommet operations on my left ear and well over 5 in my right. I ended up having no eardrum in my right ear and so I had to have a Tympanoplasty surgery when I was 10. As a result of the skin grafts I had to have two further surgeries to remove cysts from in front and behind my right ear. After all this I have been left with moderately severe hearing loss which has been causing issues that I can no longer ignore. I finally decided to visit an audiologist and discuss hearing aid options.

A week or two later I decided to get my eyes check because it is free while we are in Australia but won't be when we first get to Canada. I have been told that I need glasses as I have astigmatism.

I am turning 30 in a week but I look like I am in my very early twenties or even my teens. I don't know why but the idea of having both a hearing aid AND glasses has unsettled me a bit.

Is there anyone out there who is like me and who has both a hearing aid and glasses and is under 40? Do you find people treat you differently? Or, on the same note, do young people with just hearing aids find that people treat them differently from before?

I suppose this is all a sign of getting older and it is better to see and hear well than to be constantly asking people to repeat themselves or to get headaches from reading with bad eyes.

wow, hearing aide at 30, man, that is young, but you will not be sorry. Hubby got his about 2 years ago and is sorry he didn't do it years before. As for the glasses, good luck, I have worn them for one reason or another since I was about 3 or 4. I don't think you need to worry about anyone treating you differently. You might from time to time find someone asking you about your hearing, just because 30 is pretty young.

[agilpro]

I wear both and have never been treated differently. Hearing aids are not like glasses in that most people will not even realize you are wearing them because nobody looks at your ears when they talk to you and very few will even comment on them, the exceptions are: children(they don't miss much), other HA wearers and those thinking of getting HA's. Other than these people your HA's will go largely unnoticed. Glasses on the other hand are noticed by everyone, but you will probably only get comments on them the first day or two you are wearing them and then nobody will care that you are wearing them and you will be treated just as you were before you started wearing glasses. However, they will become a part of your personality and people will use them to describe you when asked and it will be the first thing they probably mention such as: what does Jim look like? well he wears glasses, has dark hair, is about 5'10'' etc. it will always be mentioned first, but that is about it.