New Specs

So Thursday I finally went to see an ophthalmologist to get my eyes examined and to get some new contact lenses, only I didn't get new contacts this time around (yet), I got glasses instead. And let me tell you, wearing them feels strange! It's been since the early nineties when I last wore glasses, I've always worn contacts because of the comfort of not having something sitting on my nose and being able to wear sunglasses. Putting them on for the first time in many moons is such a weird sensation, everything seems farther away and rounded and distorted and when I walk or even move I feel dizzy and out of balance. I'm sure in a few days I'll adjust, but until then I'm not driving or going into public.

I've always told myself for the past several years that I should have a pair of glasses in case something should happen to my contact lenses, or to give my eyes a rest from wearing them. But I didn't, and now I'm paying the price for my procrastination and laziness. You see, I'm terrible at taking them out at night, and rarely do. Granted, the ones I have been getting are extended wear contacts made to be worn day and night. Still, I should have taken them out more often than not at all or when they irritated my eyes. I also had the bad habit of keeping them long after I should have thrown them away.

So on this last visit, my doctor found deposits building up in the cornea of my right eye which indicated an infection from wearing my contacts for too long and not taking them out. So now I have to take these prescription eye drops, which cost a pretty penny considering I'm amongst the millions with no insurance in this country (won't get into that rant), and have to put them in both eyes for the next week to clear up this infection. I couldn't begin to tell you what the name of this infection is, I'm terrible about remembering medical jargon, but the doctor told me had I gone on with what I was doing with the old lenses in my eyes, my eyes certainly could have gotten to the point where I could lose part or all of my vision, at least in the right eye.

So now I'm wearing glasses because with the treatment I'm not supposed to wear contacts. I pretty much had no choice but to get glasses now, but once this is all cleared up I'm going back to contacts, I'll just have to not be lazy and take them out every night, and wear my glasses more often. I certainly don't want to lose my vision. For someone like me who loves to write and draw, and garden, losing my sight would suck greatly. I'm just glad I went to the doctor when I had and caught it when I did. Let this be a lesson to those who've done the no no I've been doing. My lesson has been learned.

Shitty, grainy webcam picture of me in my new specs.