Friday, September 18, 2015

Glasses or no glasses

I knew when I had my ICL surgeries 7+ years ago that there would probably come a time when I'd need reading glasses, just like anyone else in their 40's.  Sometimes I do feel like I could use some when I've spent way too long on the computer, as my eyes feel the strain and occasionally trying to read the text on my smartphone is difficult (I've since enlarged the font).  I'm a graphic designer so my workday is filled with computer time, and then I'm on my home computer a lot.  Plus, my home office chair is a recliner so it sits farther back from the monitor (great for those Netflix binges).

Since the surgeries I've had 3 different pairs of 'computer glasses' and while they do help improve the clarity of what I see, I can still read the computer just fine without them most of the time.  The main problem I'm having now is that when I do wear the glasses, if I have to look away to a farther distance, or if I take the glasses off, one or both of my eyes burn very intensely.  It's so intense that my eardrum vibrates and my eyes turn bright red as they run with tears.

So now I have once again abandoned the glasses altogether, which has reduced the burning instances to next to never.

I think part of the problem is my optometrist (who is not my ICL surgeon) doesn't understand the impact the halos have on my vision tests when I'm in his dimly lit exam room during those eye tests.  That's the worst lighting situation you can be in when you have a halo problem.  He insisted last time that the right eye "wouldn't pass a driving test", and yet I know in normal daylight driving my right eye is remarkably sharp in its vision and the left eye is pretty close.