Eyeballs

[ffutures]

Just back from a visit to the eye hospital, where they've been assessing some slight distortion in vision in my left eye, basically the retina is creased slightly due to cell growth. The good news is that it's minor and harmless; the bad news is that fixing it would require serious surgery, more invasive than e.g. cataracts, and just isn't worth it - there might be a minor improvement but it's almost as likely things would end up worse. If it gets a lot worse they will re-assess it, but if anything I think it's slightly better than it was a couple of years ago, or at least I've adapted to it to some extent.

Currently my eyes look like this due to eye drops:



That's from the last time I had a serious eye exam, three or four years ago.

I'm trying to think of things that might help with this, and the one I keep coming back to is to get a pair of medium distance glasses for reading and computer use, rather than wearing varifocals all the time. That way I won't have to move my head so much for optimum focus. Anyone got any idea if this is likely to help?

Comments

[ggreig]

Not specifically, but the closest parallel I have is that I also have varifocals, and getting a dedicated pair of glasses for close-up work (primarily figure-painting) did make me more comfortable. Of course, it's a bit of an annoyance when I want to look up and check something further away, but if you're not switching between tasks frequently it seems like it might be worth considering. Getting a single-purpose pair of glasses was also relatively cheap; although I did it at the same time as my prescription changed so it was part of a bundle.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

About what I was thinking - I don't want to go to the opticians today, my pupils are still dilated and sunlight is a bit blinding, but I'll pop along tomorrow and order a pair.

[eledonecirrhosa.livejournal.com]

I've got varifocals but my eyes have already 'outgrown' them and I need new ones. I'm trying to decide between getting another pair of varifocals (downside: it may happen again) and getting 2 pairs of glasses (downside: I'll have to cart the other pair around with me).

In other news... your dilated pupils is the the visual sign that is used in the BBC drama The Intruders to show that you have had your body taken over by an evil, body-hopping immortal! :-)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

As opposed to being stoned etc.? Hope that nothing too drastic happens to people if someone else gets it wrong!

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

I have never worn bifocals. I have a pair of glasses for outdoor wear/distance vision, with transition lenses that screen out UV; and I have a pair for reading. Since I spend my working day looking at a computer screen, I don't want to have to hold my head at a particular angle to get the reading vision. I used to have a third pair for computer use, actually, but my current reading glasses seem to work acceptably for the computer. If specific parts of your lenses work better than others I'd think being able to aim them at any part of your glasses, rather than turning your head to a funny angle, would be helpful, but I haven't actually experienced what you're dealing with.

The big hazard of owning two pairs is that you have to make sure to keep track of the pair you're not wearing. I've left mine on the bus a couple of times. At least once I didn't get them back and was out a fair bit of money!

I'm not sure why you say "medium distance," I must admit. Are there a lot of things you do at closer range than reading?