/ Health

Vision and Contact Lenses

I have a condition called keratoconus and even with glasses, the vision in my right eye is really bad. With both eyes I can see pretty well, but the moment I close my left, even with the glasses, light bounces all around and the world gets very very fuzzy. Soft contacts can’t deal with this, but rigid gas permeable ones can, in part because they can actually sculpt them to the shape of my cornea.

I decided to give them a try since I have good health care and because they are covered under my medical insurance because keratoconus is considered a medical condition. I am on my third pair since there was a period of adjustment and alteration as we went through the first two prescriptions. Unfortunately, I’m struggling to get used to them because of how uncomfortable they are and, more problematic, the fact that when I take them out, my eyes need several hours to adjust to wearing glasses again and everything, especially text, is blurry. There really isn’t any time when I can afford to not be able to read or work at a computer, so that readjustment period is definitely a problem.

Additionally, trying to concentrate on dense, theoretical texts while I feel like I have two rocks stuck in my eyes is not an easy thing to do. From the moment I put them in my attention tends to focus on the fact that my vision is still adjusting to the new way of dealing with light AND that they are just damned uncomfortable.

I like the idea of contacts, but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make them work. Still, I’m going to try to wear them for at least 4-5 hours every day between now and 8/31 when I have an appointment with my cornea specialist.

So that’s my bitching for the day. Mostly I’m writing this because it doesn’t require a lot of concentration and makes me feel like I’m doing something when all I want to do is take these damn things out of my eyes when I’ve only had them in for a little over an hour.

On this day..