Facebook Pixel

Comment Reply

HaraLee, looks like we've been on the same path for years.

I wore contacts (very very happily) for probably 25 years. I'm nearsighted, so the contacts corrected the far vision and off I went, a very happy camper.

But then, as those midlife years eeked closer and closer, it became harder to read with my contacts in. With them out, I could read perfectly, but with them in, small type and low light were real enemies. So, reading glasses became a constant companion.

There isn't much more frustrating than wearing contacts and always searching for your reading glasses! Especially when you can read perfectly with no correction! What a pain! In essence I was correcting my eyes because I was correcting my eyes.

I tried bifocal contacts for a while (they are weighted at the bottom) but they just weren't comparable to regular contacts or to my glasses as far as I was concerned. Contacts regularly "float" on the surface of your eyes, aided by your tears, and I'd find the floating really distracting with the bifocal lenses.

Now I'm with you. I have glasses that are corrected for far vision at the top and have clear glass in them at the bottom (because my near vision is still perfect). But I have to wear them all the time. Ugh.

I really identify with you when you say that you see so much more clearly with glasses that it has depressed you. Isn't that the truth? Even the light seems brighter and clearer. That teeny tiny pimple seems huge, and the dirt on the carpet is really easy to see. Darn it.

But the other part about glasses that I don't like is this: I like my eyes. They are bright green in the sunlight and I honestly like seeing them. They seem darker and much less noticeable in glasses. Part of it is vanity, but part of it is about feeling like me.

I want to see well, and I want to see my eyes!

I am considering Lasik very seriously. My husband had it a few years ago, his eyes were worse than mine, and he has 20/20 vision today. He long ago stopped the glasses/contacts/bifocal juggle, and is so happy for it. (One of the most surprising things, he said, was being able to see clearly in the shower. Imagine!)

This morning on the Today show, they did a piece on "Boomer Bummers," those health things that really get on our nerves right about now. Eye health and changing vision was right up there!

February 5, 2009 - 10:05am

Reply

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
By submitting this form, you agree to EmpowHER's terms of service and privacy policy