Contact Lenses
Pros..
When wearing contact lenses, there is no air gap between the eye and the contact lens. This will mean the wearer experiences no change in image size. The advantage of is that on the snooker table the balls are the same size whether you are wearing contact lenses or not.
Since the contact lens is in contact with the eye, it doesn’t matter which direction you look in, you should never see the edge of the lens.
Cons..
Contact lenses are made in prescription batches, and in most cases, the contact lens given to the wearer is the closest power available to what you ideally need, meaning in a lot of cases the prescription given isn’t giving the best possible vision, but the closest from what is available.
Contact lenses dry out in air conditioned environments, meaning the eyes can get tired and sore after wearing them for a while.
As you get older, and your ability to focus at different ranges drops, the depth of focus available wearing contacts is reduced compared to that in glasses. What this means for snooker players is that less of the table is in focus.
Glasses
Pros..
Glasses give a greater depth of field compared to contact lenses, meaning more of the table is in focus.
An exact prescription can be made to give the best possible clarity.
Glasses give no problems with the eyes drying out when playing for longer sessions or in air conditioned environments.
Cons..
The old type snooker glasses were heavy and cumbersome and not cosmetically appealing
(Mine are quite a bit nicer and lighter than previous generation of snooker glasses making them much more enjoyable to wear)
My advice to anyone trying to decide which avenue to pursue is this.
If you wear contact lenses on a daily basis then wearing contact lenses for snooker is a great idea if you can get exactly the right prescription, this may mean getting a slightly different power of lenses to those you wear in the day to give the best possible vision for when you are playing snooker or pool.
If you wear glasses on a daily basis, I would definitely go down the snooker glasses avenue. Your brain will have adapted to the change in image size caused by glasses, and you will find adapting to snooker glasses very easy. In many cases switching to contact lenses solely for snooker causes more trouble with adaptation.
If you would like to talk through how this effects you and your prescription, I’d be happy to advise you personally.