It's difficult for us to imagine, but before glasses existed or were available to anyone except the very wealthy, a huge number of people just couldn't see very well.
According to Urban Optiks, our nearsighted ancestors simply had to rely on their other senses to see far away objects. Our farsighted ancestors were forced to squint at things or bringing them very close to their faces. Historical depictions of scribes often reflect this, showing them stooping over their desks with noses almost brushing the papers.
But eventually, glasses did come along near the end of the 13th century. According to National Public Radio, the first known eyeglasses came from northern Italy, an area known for its glass production. Spectacles soon became a luxury item, and records show that merchants often carried them along the Silk Road to Asia, where they turned into a status symbol and occasionally a mandatory accessory for China's vaunted class of civil servants.
Those early glasses, with heavy frames (which tied to the head) and shatter-prone glass or quartz lenses, weren't an ideal solution. The first glasses were solely intended as readers, and the first spectacles for nearsightedness didn't show up until the 15th century.
Interestingly, as literacy and book reading became more common, and requiring good close-up vision, distance vision deteriorated. This is possibly because of eye adaptation, but the correlation has been noted for centuries.
During the Reformation, when literacy rates surged and nearsightedness became a common affliction, glasses became more accepted. Even so, purchasing glasses just involved trying on different pairs until you found one that seemed to work. Eye charts, eye exams, and standard lenses didn't come along until the 19th century.
Today, glasses are not only mainstream, but actually considered fashion statements. We don't even need to tie them to our heads, but that could come back.
