There are some very breathable contacts, but they are horribly expensive (that's what I wear, no choice at my point). Only, even if it says one can, they should not be kept at night.
I'm not old enough to have had the glass ones, but I got the hard plastic ones and that was HORRIBLE. Even if I could not see well with glasses, and had frequent headaches, I still prefered glasses until more choices were available for very low eyesight like mine.
It's just nice to have different options. I may go for surgery now, because it stabilized, but until 35 yo my eyesight was going downhill too quick to make it very useful.