Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Chapter 1.5: I Can See Clearly Now...Sort Of

I have had glasses since I was eight year old. And I am blind. Like sixty-year old woman peering through Coke bottle thick lenses at her knitting blind. Now, I love my glasses. My pair now are cute (and were extra expensive since the insurance didn't cover them because Dad's company gets crap insurance. Also because my head is neither adult size nor child size, so I couldn't just deal with any of the frames actually covered by insurance). My glasses are the reason my friend (and roommate) Ron calls me Harry.

But recently I've seriously wondered what it would be like to see the world without a set of frames obscuring my face. So yesterday I went to the eye doctor and got my first pair of contacts. The reason I haven't done this before comes from a horror story told to me by Mom about her first and only pair of contacts. They were rigid lenses and they slid off her eye, getting stuck on the side and having to be taken out with a little plunger thing by her optometrist. This little anecdote freaked me out and I figured, "I like my glasses and either way I'm going to need something to assist my vision, so why bother?"

But while I was in London, I saw a different, more mature, and I'll admit it (shallow as it may be) more beautiful Ashleigh. And I really really wanted to see her again. Part of that girl was what I looked like without glasses, so I asked Mom if I could get contacts. And being the wonderful Mom that she is, she paid out of pocket for the eye exam (because our crap insurance only covers an eye exam every two years instead of every year. Even though you're supposed to have an eye exam every year) and took me to get them.

Another reason I'd been a little reluctant before was because I thought I'd need hard lenses, which sounded really, really uncomfortable to me. But surprise! Any astigmatism I have is very little, so the optometrist said I could wear disposable soft lenses! Which makes wearing them sooooooo much more comfortable. And makes the care a lot less stressful. I throw them away every two weeks.

The receptionist helped show me how to put them in and take them out and clean them. And apparently I caught on really quickly, even if it didn't feel like it to me. I got my first pair that very day and will order the box when I go back in for my check-up next week. For the first time in twelve years, I could see my eyes again.

And damn! They are HUGE. It's like instead of my head growing while my eyes stayed their same size (which is why babies have such big eyes) my eyes grew with me. They're like the size of quarters. The nice thing about the contacts is that I don't have to worry about my super long eyelashes scraping the lens like I do with my glasses.

They are going to take some getting used to though. First of all, they're a slightly stronger prescription which is always disorienting at first. The floor tends to go all bendy when you look at it, which sucks for an uber-klutz who depends on watching the ground to keep her balance. Seriously, the sidewalks in old parts of town are my arch-nemesis who daily plot my bruise patterns and ways to make me look foolish in front of the perfectly balance. Or gravity just likes me more than everyone else. The jury is still out on that one.

Where was I? Ah, yes. New contacts. A new prescription, at least this one, makes it a little hard to focus in on things. So taking me to the store and sending me off to find the granola I want is not exactly a good idea. Thankfully, I did not just embarrassingly overlook the granola; the store did not actually have it.

It will also take some practice to actually get them in and out easily. I hate the sick, disorienting feeling of when one contact is out and one is in. The blurry/clear dual dynamic is very dizzying. However, tonight it only took me two tries to get them out! Took me forever to get them in, but only two tries to get out! Only problem is after having them in for so long my glasses make me feel a little dizzy. I really love them though; they make me feel so lovely and mature.

Wish I had a real way to end these posts. Anyone have any ideas?

4 comments:

  1. Congrats on the contacts!

    It took me two years to get them because the first time I tried to get them I couldn't get them in--I was too afraid. A year later I tried again and I got them in...but getting them out? Yeah that was the hard part! :)

    Thankfully I became better at it! :) It really does take a bunch of practice getting them in and out. :) Here are some tips--always put contacts in FIRST. Never ever do makeup/moisturizer/etc. before because it will leave a film on your hands which will get in your eyes and HURT SO BAD.

    Also--do not ever ever fall asleep with them in. They will get kind of "glued" to your eye and you'll have to peel them off because your eyes will get really really dry.

    Also the more frequently you wear them the more you get used to them. :) I haven't worn mine for a year-ish because I got lazy but I'm starting back up again and it's like beginning again all over! So as long as you make sure to wear them at least once a week it won't ever feel like you're starting from scratch. :D

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  2. Thanks for the tips. I plan to wear the contacts as my main eyewear and keep my glasses for days when my eyes are screwy or when I first get up in the morning. And I will be sure to never put contacts in at the end of a skin routine. Your caps lock has scared me

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  3. Makes me every slightly so jealous. I tried last year in one last ditch effort to get contacts. However the eye doctor looked at me and said. um... your eyeball, is not really a ball... it's more of a ... bumpy object you see out of, you won't be able to wear contacts, even hard ones. Oh well. I have been wearing glasses since I was 6 months (yes 1/2 a year) old. So I really can't imagine life with out them.
    Though the other night, when I couldn't sleep and was just laying in bed staring at the ceiling, wondered what it would be like, for just a moment. To be able to stare at something and not have it all blurry.

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  4. Wow, that's so sad. I know how you feel about wanting to see without glasses though. Even the contacts are only a temporary fix for me. I plan to have laser eye surgery when I'm old enough and my eyes have stopped deteriorating so quickly. And when I can afford it of course

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