Contact Lenses...A Late Start

This year we have double vision insurance, which is fabulous because 3 people in my family wear glasses and we've really struggled with keeping everyone who needs glasses in glasses (between breakage & loss in rivers/lakes/corn fields), so we were thrilled when we all went off to the optometrist to have our eyes checked...

My husband has really bad eyes, right on the edge of legal blindness. His glasses have always been our first priority, because he literally cannot see without them.

Our youngest son, Sean, has been our next priority, because his are the next worse eyes in the house, and because his seemed to be broken/lost the most often. He just turned 18 so, hopefully, that will start happening less and less.

And then there is Michael, who has always, always wanted contacts, and we just never could swing the contact appointment fee. Well with double vision insurance, he gets his contacts this year!!!!

And then there is me...I haven't seen an optometrist since 2004 and have been only wearing reading glasses. But my distance vision has gotten a tad blurry, so I knew it was time. Because I tend to leave my glasses all over the place and lose them, I wanted to try contacts too. I went for monovision: Close vision in the left eye/Distance vision in the right eye.

The first night after wearing them for about 4 or 5 hours, I tried to take them out to go to bed. OMG, who knew removing thin, membranous lenses from ones eyes would be so freaking difficult??? Not I, and I almost pulled my retina out while removing it. Evidently I need help in contact removal technique, so I called my daughter-in-law who taught me the slide it over onto the white of the eye and THEN pinch it out technique, whew. I'd have ended up damaged the way I was going!!!!!

I'm sure my experience with monovision has been duplicated all over the world. No one told me how difficult it would be for me to "see" the lip on the contact that helps you put it in your eye right-side out!!! So the first day I wore them to work, they were wrong side out, and the 2nd day began with the same issue (but I didn't realize it then). There was just a slight irritation at the lower left corner of the contact, and the vision was just not right.

After 2 hours on the second day, I couldn't bear it anymore and went to the restroom to clean the lens. I dropped it, found it, cleaned it and put it in.

VIOLA!!! Vision and no discomfort!!! That's when I learned I had had them in wrong-side out from day 2 (the first day I wore them I started at the optical shop and she verified the lens was facing the right direction). It is AMAZING how quickly ones eyes adjust when the contact is simply facing the right direction!!!!

So today we go for follow up and I have to ask them to make the close vision better. I work on computers sometimes 12 hours a day, and I have moved everything as close to me as I can at work. It's "almost" visually workable. It simply needs to be tweeked. Wish me luck!!!