Eye doctor summary
I went to see the eye doctor this afternoon, for a much overdue check-up. It went very well. I got a minor prescription for glasses (-1.00 for those who understand the numbers), and stopped by LensCrafters this afternoon and picked out a pair of frames. They had dilated my eyes, and there was no way I could drive home in that condition, so since the doctor's office is two lights from the Burlington Mall, I met Sajuka there after work. We got dinner, and by then I could finally see well enough to pick out frames. I had no idea lenses were so expensive though! It's been about seven years since I last picked out glasses, and granted I was never the one paying for them, but $250 for lenses sounds really expensive to me! Luckily the Tufts health plan has a wonderful vision discount plan associated with it, and I saved almost 50% off the total bill. Sweet!
The part that went very well is that I am very pleased with the doctor I was assigned too. He wasn't so sure when he first saw me, as I'm at least half the age of most of his patients. He specializes in glaucoma, which is mainly associated with old age. But my eyes are really, really bad. I'd forgotten that, actually, because the LASIK surgery did such an awesome job of correcting my vision. However, all LASIK does is remove layers of the cornea in order to adjust the focal point inside your eye. It does nothing to affect the shape of the eye. My eyes are shaped like a flattened football. What that means is that before my LASIK, my focal point was falling short of my retina. LASIK reshaped the outer layer of my eye to refocus so that it hit my retina again. (The same thing glasses and contacts do, but through surgery).
I'm actually at very high risk for glaucoma, though he explained that it's a slightly different kind than what effects the elderly. It's rare to find someone my age with eyes this bad. I'm also getting a little weirded out, because professionals always seems to find me a fascinating case. He was oohing and aahing all over me. He rattled off all sorts of medical jargon about the oddity that is my eyes, some of which (something along the lines of pigment fragmentation) is apparently very pretty, yet not "bad" per se. My nerves are healthy, but my pressure is at the upper levels of norm (I have another appointment in 6 months to make sure that is stabilized). He had high praise for the doctor that performed my LASIK, too, which was very nice to hear. I believe the quote was something along the lines of, "Wow, he's good!" (He checked the thickness of my cornea, and apparently found it nice and thick, which is shocking. The worse your eyes are, the more that has to be removed, and my eyes were about as bad as they came.)
So, a very good experience over all. I liked the doctor, he's going to be a great guy to be keeping an eye on my eyes, and I'll have glasses to fix this issue with not being able to read signs very soon.
The part that went very well is that I am very pleased with the doctor I was assigned too. He wasn't so sure when he first saw me, as I'm at least half the age of most of his patients. He specializes in glaucoma, which is mainly associated with old age. But my eyes are really, really bad. I'd forgotten that, actually, because the LASIK surgery did such an awesome job of correcting my vision. However, all LASIK does is remove layers of the cornea in order to adjust the focal point inside your eye. It does nothing to affect the shape of the eye. My eyes are shaped like a flattened football. What that means is that before my LASIK, my focal point was falling short of my retina. LASIK reshaped the outer layer of my eye to refocus so that it hit my retina again. (The same thing glasses and contacts do, but through surgery).
I'm actually at very high risk for glaucoma, though he explained that it's a slightly different kind than what effects the elderly. It's rare to find someone my age with eyes this bad. I'm also getting a little weirded out, because professionals always seems to find me a fascinating case. He was oohing and aahing all over me. He rattled off all sorts of medical jargon about the oddity that is my eyes, some of which (something along the lines of pigment fragmentation) is apparently very pretty, yet not "bad" per se. My nerves are healthy, but my pressure is at the upper levels of norm (I have another appointment in 6 months to make sure that is stabilized). He had high praise for the doctor that performed my LASIK, too, which was very nice to hear. I believe the quote was something along the lines of, "Wow, he's good!" (He checked the thickness of my cornea, and apparently found it nice and thick, which is shocking. The worse your eyes are, the more that has to be removed, and my eyes were about as bad as they came.)
So, a very good experience over all. I liked the doctor, he's going to be a great guy to be keeping an eye on my eyes, and I'll have glasses to fix this issue with not being able to read signs very soon.