John Lennon always claimed his contact lenses would not fall out if he was ‘stoned’ on cannabis. Some might say he was a dreamer. Imagine if he was right.
A Queensland University of Technology (QUT) optometry researcher has done more than that. He’s analysed Lennon’s little-known, hit-and-miss use of contact lenses in the 1960s and discovered something extraordinary: the Beatles legend was right. The contact lenses would stick, even after a hard day’s night.
In his historical perspective, You’ve got to hide your myopia away: John Lennon’s contact lenses, QUT’s Professor Stephen Vincent found Lennon was probably right when he speculated that his cannabis use helped them stay in.
The research, published in the September edition of the journal Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics and co-authored by his wife Ms Roz Vincent, a Brisbane optometrist, concluded this was “most likely a result of cannabis-induced upper eyelid ptosis (droopy eyelids), which would reduce the likelihood of lens ejection”.
Although Lennon’s look was later synonymous with his little round glasses, he rarely wore spectacles in public before 1967.
Prof Vincent said during The Beatles’ first few years in the public eye, Lennon quietly experimented with contact lenses to “hide his myopia away”.
Lennon had astigmatism – an imperfection in the curvature of the cornea – which meant early-era contact lenses often fell out unless modified to fit the shape of the eye.
But the only contact lenses available at that time were rigid ones made of polymethylmethacrylate.
The couple’s research analysed historical sources, including early photos and video footage, a 1971 spectacles prescription belonging to Lennon, and anecdotes from Lennon, his first wife Cynthia, his fellow Beatle Paul McCartney and his childhood friend and first manager Nigel Walley.
“I was brought up on The Beatles’ 1962-1966 album (the Red Album), so my enduring mental image from childhood is John Lennon without glasses,” Prof Vincent said.
“When I watched Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary in 2022, the recap of The Beatles’ history very clearly shows John without glasses from 1956 to 1966, then suddenly in glasses constantly from 1967.
“I thought he must have been walking around not seeing very much pre-1967, or he was wearing contact lenses.
“So, Roz and I started down this rabbit hole of research, and it turns out it was both.”
Prof Vincent said the contact lens problems that plagued Lennon in the 1960s were unlikely to arise 60 years later due to improvements in lens designs and technology to measure the topography of the eye.
He said it was estimated that around 5% of the Australian population aged 15 to 64 now wore contact lenses because of a variety of eye conditions, including myopia.
An estimated 1.4 million Australians have astigmatism and around 6.3 million have myopia.
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