The Eyes

As I mentioned yesterday, I went to the eye doctor to find out about my contact lenses and why it has been so difficult to wear them.  He did some tests and discovered, as I had guessed, that I have dry eyes.  It's a two-fold problem.  On one hand, my tear ducts aren't producing tears like they should.  And on the other hand, the quality of the tears isn't what it should be, meaning that the liquid slides off the surface of the eye faster than it should.

Gladly, there are some remedies that might just work.  One is taking a fish oil supplement daily.  It has Vitamin A in it and a couple of other things, is made just for dry eye, and should improve the tear quality.  The second is to get a plug in one of two the tiny ducts on the inside corner of the each eye so that it doesn't take away the tears so fast.  I am hoping that with both of these interventions, I can go back to contact lenses again.

There is a medication called Restasis, but the doctor warned that it is expensive but I could go in that direction if I wanted.  Well, it looks like it would cost about $109 a month if I put in the information correctly.  That's out of pocket money and he is right -- that is expensive!!

The third possibility is to work out something a little different with my contact lenses, or switch to soft lenses.

I'm going to try the fish oil and get the plugs and see where that takes me, especially since the contact lenses are nearly new.

Eyes are amazing things.  My prescription has changed over the past so many years.  The nearsightedness has improved, even again since last year.  I am not farsighted anymore, meaning that I can read and do art without correction.  My intermediate vision is good and again, I don't need any correction, such as to type up this posting.

When you visit the eye doctor, two important tests are typically done.  One is to measure the pressure within the eye and this is to rule out glaucoma, a very serious medical problem that can cause blindness.  The second is to examine the macula in the back of the eye to rule out AMD or age-related macular degeneration.  This is a condition that affects the blood vessels in the back of the eye and there are two kinds -- wet and dry.  The dry type occurs first and if caught at this phase is often held at bay with special eye vitamins.  The wet variety is much more serious and if found at this stage requires shots given by a retinal specialist. 

So make sure that you are being tested for these conditions and also ask your eye doctor to test for dry eye if you have a suspicion that you might have a problem with this.

Well, it's Thursday -- one more day before the first event of my class reunion.  So I've got some things to get done and I'm going to take off and get started.

I'll close with a line from one of my favorite hymns -- "If God is for us, who can be against?"

Bye for now.