I started wearing glasses in fourth grade. I figured I needed glasses since I was always squinting to see the board. I vividly remember doing that all the time and then when I put on my glasses for the first time.. TA-DA!! It was like everything was bright, shiny and clear!! What a huge difference!
Since then I wore glasses until my senior year of high school. No, my eyes did not magical improve (I wish!). I got my first contacts! And not those yucky hard ones that my cousin got that looked so painful to put on ... with saliva, I might add. Double yuck! No, I was a wimpy kid and chose the soft kind.
But unlike my cousin, my eyesight continued to get worse while hers remained stable due to her wearing hard lenses. Yes, soft contacts has it's drawbacks. I enjoyed soft contacts for many years until I became pregnant with my second child. I was so tired from carrying one in me and carrying one out of me (in my arms that is) that I was just plain tired all the time. I took many naps and felt that wearing glasses was more comfortable in the long run than putting on and taking off my contacts. After I had my second child, I continued wearing glasses just because it was more convenient.
When I turned 40, I noticed that I was having trouble reading with my glasses. My optometrist said that I needed bifocals or 'transitionals' now since I needed two different powers/degrees - one to see close and one to see far. Sigh.. bifocals? That's for old people! He said it was all due to aging. And I thought it was because I was working full-time and the stress of teaching made my eyes worse. (I think it did make it worse with all the computer usage and grading all those zillions of papers.) So I got the transitional glasses (there isn't an obvious line in the middle of the lenses) last year and they seem to be working well...
...Until this year. I noticed it was still harder to read up close and found out after my annual eye exam that I went up 4 'clicks' in my farsightedness. It didn't change my prescription as a whole too much so I didn't need to order new regular glasses but I decided to order a prescription transitional sunglasses to protect my eyes from the sun you know.. UVB and UVA rays.
I also wanted to order some new contacts since I haven't worn them in awhile but would like to whenever I'm in the water or on vacation. Let me tell you it's not as easy as it looks to find the perfect bi-focal or they call it multi-focal contact lenses.
My optometrist said the easiest thing was to get a set of contacts for my nearsightedness (which I've always had) and buy a pair of reading glasses when I need to read up close. Now don't you think that the whole reason I wore contacts was to
not wear glasses?!? It kind of defeats the purpose of wearing contacts when you have to wear glasses over them! So I nixed that option.
So I was to find a pair of muli-focal contacts. I can't explain to you how they work (because I don't know) but they allow me to see up close clearly and see far clearly. Sounds good right?
Well.. after eight different sample pairs I still have not found the right fit for my eyes. I tried different powers and different brands and am losing hope that I will ever be able to find the perfect fit.. or I'll even settle for a 'good' fit. Since my prescription is so high, my options are limited. Sigh again..
The ones I tried were:
Air Optic (4 different pairs) all great far but blurry up close
One in the Office-not sure what the brand was (1) great close but very blurry far
Purevision Multi-focal (1) clear close; blurry far
Proclear (1) hard to focus close and far
Comfilcon A (1) good close; good far but still little bit blurry
I am currently waiting for my 9th pair of contacts.. pray that this is THE one!
My girls also saw their eye doctor who is also my eye doctor and my husband's. The whole family goes to him! Matthew's eyes did not change! He's had the same prescription for at least the last five years! Of course, he wears those hard lenses.
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| Hannah's eyes are 20/15. Great so far. And I thought she was the one that needed glasses because she complains that she can't read the board in class well. Maybe it was the teacher's writing? :) |
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| Emily's eyes were not so good and she had to get glasses. I was shocked because she never complained about not seeing clearly. She only needs to wear it in class but I know she won't want to wear it because she was so upset finding out she needed them. It took her forever to find a pair of frames because everything looked 'ugly' she said. She should have seen the selection I had when I got my first glasses; They were ugly and geeky. But today the children's frames are so stylish and cute! |
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| That was why this daughter of mine was upset that she wasn't getting glasses. She loved them and couldn't wait to get a pair. No worries there.. she'll get them soon... she's Chinese. |
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| She does look cute... and looks like me too with dimples and lots of teeth! |
