As I mentioned at the end of a post last summer, I was trying multifocal contact lenses, wanting to avoid the constant and ever-increasing need for reading glasses (all the damned time). I'm not sure if I ever followed up on that here, but it didn't work out: the one brand that came in the strengths I need (-10.5 and -11.5) were a different material than the ones I had been wearing, and were miserably scratchy and uncomfortable to me. Frustratingly, the ability to see with them was good! But I could not stand them, and I tried for about three weeks, a long enough test.
So our only option was to keep my regular contacts, but dial the better eye back to -9.5, to try to offset the near and distance vision needed. It kinda-sorta worked, but having the left eye not as sharp bugs me, and I do still need readers all the damned time.
Isn't getting older fun?
It's been bugging me enough that I'm contemplating just going to glasses full-time. I got contacts in high school, so it's been a long time! But while I don't love wearing glasses, if I'm constantly putting readers on and taking them off and needing them again, it's like I'm wearing glasses anyway, and this way, I'd just wear them, not on-and-off them all day. Right? Anyone made this switch?
Complicating things is that while I liked the eye doctor I saw down here well enough, I wasn't pleased with his staff, so I don't really want to go back there. I mean, I sympathize with people who have to work with the public, and deal with them when they are clueless or annoying (not that I was intending to be either, of course), but one really needs to not let the customer know that you find them clueless or annoying, and they did that to me, at least twice.
So the second factor in my contemplation is whether I can go to my previous and much-beloved optical shop in MA, maybe on a visit this summer*, and take care of it there. I've sent a message to ask how long it would take to make the glasses, and whether I could both get measured and get the final product in under a week.
*I mean, I was already thinking of going up to see friends, it's not just a medical visit concept.
Realistically, I wouldn't be surprised if it takes longer, and I don't want to be away from home longer than a week, but it's worth asking about that before making other plans.
I mostly knit, sometimes crochet or cross-stitch. I read, a lot. I love cats. I love hockey, especially my no-longer-local team, the Boston Bruins. Want more? Read on.
I've made that switch! I wore contacts for years, and finally decided that they were too much hassle and went back to glasses full-time sometime within the last 17 years. (I can't remember exactly when, but Jeff says it was after we started dating.) And now I can't switch back, because I have nodules on my upper corneas. (Unrelated to the contacts; contacts would potentially make them worse though.) If I could afford Lasik I would jump at it.
ReplyDeleteI have no experience with the contacts-to-glasses dilemma but have a question. Wouldn't it be better to just find an ophthalmologist in your local area? Your eyes are rather important and being established with a practice that you trust could prove a good idea at some point.
ReplyDeleteIrritated eyes right now with your contacts and waiting till summer to get it taken care of? I'm with Leslie, an ophthalmologist is a good idea.
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