If you wear prescription eyeglasses, you should have a backup pair. Why? Glasses break, you lose them, or you just need a second pair for better reading, to reduce digital eye strain or to protect your eyes from the sun’s harmful rays.

“As you understand the importance of a second pair of glasses, you realize you truly do yourself a disservice by not having one,” says Dibby Bartlett, incoming president of the Opticians Association of America. 

Here are seven reasons you need a spare pair of eyeglasses (in case of breakage, loss, or even for special needs or added protection):

1. Accidents happen

2. It’s harder to see up close

3. You spend a lot of time looking at screens

4. Sport lenses are more durable

5. Sunglasses protect your eyes

6. You need safety glasses at work

7. You need glasses as a backup to your contact lenses