I got my first glasses when I was about 9. Big plastic brown glasses. I hadn’t realized how bad my eyes were, I was quite near sighted. I could still read without glasses at the time.
Over the years my eyes slowly got worse. By the time I got to college I couldn’t see anything at all without my glasses. People were colored blobs, text on a page a fuzzy blur.
One time in college I was skiing and fell. My glasses flew off into the snow. People were zipping by me, and I couldn’t see a thing. I was afraid someone would ski over my glasses and break them, or hit me. Eventually I found my glasses by patting around me. It was a pretty scary situation.
When I was 23 my mom’s work told her they would pay half the money for one person in the family to get radial keratotomy. This was before Lasik. My mom’s eyes were bad also, but she decided I should get it, since I’d be able to use it so much longer than she. So I went for it.
I got to lie there and look up at the knife slowly descending to my eye, and slowly cut the surface. It was numb of course, and I was looking right into a bright light, so there was nothing to distract.
It was life changing. I can’t even describe how wonderful it was. If you ever have the opportunity to have your eyes fixed, DO IT.
The eye doctor told me my eyes would get bad at the same rate as a normal person. About 5 years ago I started to notice my left eye was not as strong as my right. If I closed my right eye my left would re-focus. I wondered (hoped?) if perhaps I would need an eye patch.
I finally went to the doctor the other day, and about 5 minutes into it she said “Boy, your new glasses are going to be quite a change for you”. I had had an astigmatism before the surgery, and it’s come back. Glasses can fix that. I can never wear contacts or have lasik though, since RK actually cuts the surface of the eye. The eye doctor said she could still see the scars on my eye, plus an extra; she wondered if I’d ever torn my cornea. I don’t remember that ever happening.
So now I have glasses, which you saw at the top of this post. My wife likes them a lot. My kids are a little freaked out still when they see me. The doctor warned my that my brain may fight them, and it is some. I get double vision sometimes, and some things are a bit twisted, and I have to focus.
It’s just part of getting old I guess.
Your fortitude under the knife is inspiring Topher. I realize your focusing on your glasses here, but you’ve actually changed my perspective a bit on surgery. Well, along with my Father-In-Law. He had Lasik last year and he swears by the results.
For me though, and I say this without exaggeration, the thought of having surgery on my eyes makes me want to vomit. Yeup, there it is. That old nauseated feeling. I can’t even type about your experience without feeling it. Ack! How did you hold it together with the actualities of it. Lasers, knives and cornea don’t mix. (Hands on mouth)
I’ve had a prescription for glasses for 30 years. The first ten I had the glasses, but never wore them. The second ten, I used them for reading and computer work, but now, I don’t get out of bed without them. Part of getting older to be sure.
Regardless, thanks for sharing. I’m not running for the surgeon, but you have changed my sense of it a touch. We’ll see. (Pun intended)
You should ask for sedation while it happens, you won’t care in the slightest. 🙂 Lasik recovery is faster than RK too. I wasn’t right for about a week. I can’t describe enough what an amazing thing it is.
I just wish Lasik wasn’t so dang expensive. I’m a good candidate, and I hate glasses so much. (It’s a self-image thing, I started wearing welfare glasses at 4 years old, and wore them until a sophomore in high school)
Maybe someday. 🙂
Now you need to add glasses to your avatar. 🙂 I had LASIK in 2010, and blogged about my experience (with photos). It was expensive, but it greatly increased my quality of life.