Could you specify what do you mean by cultural proliferation in this case? In the spirit of mosasaur's comment I interpret it such that there are people in academia who don't need corrective glasses (meaning that the cost of wearing them is greater than possible benefit) but choose to wear them because it is fashionable in their social circles. That would surprise me; I have heard quite a few stories of people refusing to wear glasses in spite of their bad vision, but not the other way round.