On the outside, I try to project an image of having it all together. But underneath that, I'm kind of a disaster. Hence... the name of the site: GlossyVeneer. I am so over visiting the eye doctor… and yet, I continue to do so.
I went to the doctor last Tuesday, the purpose of the appointment being to do a follow-up on the previous saga and to do a final check on my eyes to give me an updated prescription. Things were supposed to be great. At the conclusion I should be a normal person and not have to revisit the doc for another year. I should be cheerful and relaxed as I make my way back home.
I didn’t leave cheerful and relaxed.
I honestly thought things were improving. My eye no longer hurt and burned, so that’s an improvement. I knew my vision seemed a little blurred, but I thought that was from wearing old glasses a lot of the time with an out-of-date prescription. I had been wearing my glasses most of the time, just putting my contacts in to run or if I had somewhere to be and didn’t want to feel like I looked like a doofus.
So the appointment started with the vision check. The eye assistant girl had me take off my glasses, cover my left eye and read off the line of letters.
“I can’t.”
She said, “That’s okay, how about this line?”
“I can’t read that either.”
“This one?”
“Um… maybe there’s an O… and perhaps a P. Or an F. Or a T. Or maybe it’s a Y. Or even an I. I don’t know… I promise, I know my letters!”
She again reassured me that things were okay and decided to dial-in my current prescription on the crazy vision-check contraption. (Obviously, I am an eye expert.) “Can you read it now?”
“No.”
She tinkered with the dials more and more. With each adjustment there was no change, sometimes things came into focus for a moment, but that moment was so fleeting it was hardly noteworthy. The panic was rising in my voice with each answer of “No.” I had to deliver.
She stopped reassuring me. She said, “This isn’t right. Let’s have you see the doctor. Maybe he can figure out what is going on, then we can work on your prescription.”
I was lead to another exam room, the doctor came in and took a look at my eyes, leaned back and said, “Did you go without your contacts for a few days like I said?”
“Yes.”
“There’s no change. The surface of your eye still looks just as roughed up. There’s no way you’ll be able to see anything clear through this surface. We can’t get you a new glasses or contact prescription until we clear this up!”
He gave me a new medicine prescription, a third type of eye drop (Prednisolone) and gave me strict orders to not wear my contacts AT ALL. He told me to use the drops 4 times a day then come back in three weeks, with my glasses on – NO CONTACTS ALLOWED, to see how things are going. He said we first need to get me seeing clearly with just glasses, then we can try moving back to contacts.
I left feeling very upset. Truthfully, I was slightly devastated that I have to wear my glasses all the time. I was miserable that my cornea hadn’t improved at all. And I was TERRIFIED after sitting through so many rounds of saying “No I can’t see that.” and mulling over the possibility that this could be permanent.
I have been using the drops for 1 whole week now. I don’t see much improvement. Other than the fact that my right eye now leaks bright white goo out of the corner, there isn’t much change.
I have been reading on the internet, most sites say corneal abrasions heal rapidly, in just a couple days. Most of them say the eye is typically tightly patched to protect it from too much eyelid movement and from light. I have to wonder why the doctor didn’t do that. I also have to wonder if the computer screen is having a detrimental affect as well. The fact that my job is to stare at a computer screen ALL DAY, then I often sit and start at my computer screen outside work hours to read/write blogs and work on side projects means I get a lot of computer time.
I’m just scared. Vision is so important. I want mine back. I’ll even deal with having to wear glasses all the time if only I could see properly again.
I highly recommend you get a second opinion. Who knows?! It may turn out to be the same thing your doc is saying now, but you never know. Praying and wishing you the best… xo.
I am so sorry about your eyes. It sucks, and that’s all I can say…EXCEPT you look GREAT in glasses, so don’t think that you don’t.
