Vision
14-May-02
No, I didn’t have one. . . I’m losing mine. Lately, I’m having trouble seeing things. This is not a new experience for me, though it’s rare for me to notice that I can’t see.
Either my prescription has changed just enough for me to notice, or I’m getting a bit of eye-strain from looking at the computer, or my vision has changed fast enough for me to notice. The first two situations aren’t all that bad– my vision tends to change every couple of years, always a notch or two worse. Eye strain, though annoying, does not do any permanent damage.
It’s the third situation that has me worried. Sudden changes in my vision can indicate anything from dirty contact lenses (unlikely– they’re disposable) or allergies (to the contact lens solution– I did change to a new solution about 2 months ago, which is about when I started noticing a change) to a serious eye disease, like glaucoma (which runs in my Dad’s side of the family– everyone except Dad has it!) or diabetes (which Mom has, and which I’m certainly not exactly doing anything to prevent).
The last time I went to the eye doctor, my vision had changed, but not quite enough to put me into a new prescription of contact lenses (I don’t think so, anyway– but perhaps it was the time before that when that happened?) My eye doctor and I discussed the glaucoma and diabetes in the family, both of which were somewhat new revelations to me at the time. I’d known the full history of the glaucoma since a year ago, when I’d visited my grandmother, and had spoken with the dr. about it before. I had learned about Mom’s diabetes about a week after seeing the eye doctor for the previous year’s annual visit. The long and the short of it is any sudden change in my vision, including spots, clouds, and blank spots, should be looked at. I’d say noticing a distinct degradation in vision in the span of a couple of months is sudden enough.
I have an appointment for Wednesday.