I’ll Check My Eyes, Thanks.

Twenty years. That is how long I have been wearing glasses.

I am near-sighted.

I think.

In all those years, I am not even sure what it is called – but it’s the one where I can’t see things far away.

Except for lately.

I have started to remove my glasses to read my phone, which I suppose means bifocals are in my future.

However, I am pretty religious with my eye appointments for two other reasons: glaucoma and diabetes.

My grandfather had glaucoma, and every single time I go to the eye doctor my mother reminds me to remind them of that fact. After all this time, you’d think she’d know I will remember to tell ’em that, but you would also think I would remember whether I am near-sighted or not. The thing is, they have to do extra tests when you have a history of glaucoma, that one where they touch your eye, which I hate, but I do it, cause, duh, as my mom will tell you – my grandfather had glaucoma.

My doctor knows me by now – that he has to put me in a head lock to keep me from moving.

Works for me.

The other reason I have my eyes tested every year is my diabetes. One of the first things to go with that crazy disease is circulation, which is why the extremities get affected first – the feet and the hands. But sometimes people forget about all those little blood vessels in the eyes. If circulation doesn’t flow, your eyes stop working well.

It’s odd, but I can tell in my vision when my blood sugars are messed up.

OK, that isn’t odd, it is scary.

Which is why I go. And get dilated. And let my doctor not only hold my head in a vice for to glaucoma test – he also shines a light with the power of the sun into every corner of my eyes to make sure my blood vessels look healthy.

I have been lucky so far. Clean as a whistle.

Can you imagine my life, as a graphic designer and photographer, if my eyes were not OK? Do you remember that time my corneas got messed up?

I don’t even want to think about it.

I’d rather get my eyes checked and keep on with the pretty pictures.
For another 20 years at least.

Snow Falling Coneflower Dried Daisy Up

Do you wear glasses or contacts?
Do you get regular eye exams?
Have you had any “Eyetastrophes?”

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Visit SeeMuchMore for more information about VSP and vision care benefits. I was selected for this post by the Clever Girls Collective, and all opinions expressed are my own.

This article has 7 comments

  1. JennyMoose

    Well there was that one thing when i had skin cancer in my tear duct and they had to take my eye apart and then put it back together again. With extra parts. Very fun stuff.

  2. tawnya

    My husband is an eye doctor. I’m fortunate that for the glaucoma test, I can dig my fingers into his thigh! I’m not so much his favorite patient, oddly…

  3. Rachel

    Yeah. I’ve seen eye doctors since I was 18 months old. Nearsightedness bad enough to warrant glasses at 4 years old and glaucoma testing starting at 18. (Did you know that is a risk factor?)

    Then add weird blood pressure (sometimes too high, sometimes too low) and the diabetes… yeah, I see a eye MD every year.

  4. Everyfann

    I need to check this out, I haven’t had an exam in years!

  5. tracy @mamacreates

    Ha…I got you & your 20 years beat, sister 😉 I got my first pair of glasses when I was 8 (my first pair of contacts for my 13th bday), & I just turned 37…..you do the math 🙂

    And yes, I have my eyes checked annually…my next appt is on the 13th, actually. I go every year & not just because I can’t get my contacts refilled without a current prescription, but also b/c my cornea is thin (I think that was it) in several areas, & will be prone to tearing. I could see the thin spots in those fancy photos they take; it was crazy to see them, & knowing they’d never get better. So I go every year to make sure they don’t get worse. They first showed up when I was around 22, & so far so good 🙂

  6. Sizzle

    I have worn glasses since I was very little. Maybe 5? I definitely remember wearing them in kindergarten and also having to wear a patch on my eye for a short time to correct a lazy eye. Hotness! Now I wear contacts and sometimes glasses. I get my eyes checked every year.

  7. MargieK

    Yes, I wear both contacts and glasses — because I have to take the contact out and give the eyes a rest now and then. Plus there are always times when it’s inadvisable to wear contacts (eye infection, cold, dust storm…) but I still need to see.

    I’m pretty good about getting annual exams. They won’t fill my contact prescription without them. But sometimes I go a few months longer than exactly a year. I started wearing glasses at 14, but didn’t get up the nerve to try contacts until I was something like 35!

    Eye catastrophes? Yes! I tripped and fell in the woods at my grandparents’ when I was a kid (maybe 9?) and got a splintery stump in my eye. Can’t even remember which one; it healed fine. As an adult, I’ve had several bouts of “anterior uveitis” (which goes by other names, but is essentially inflammation or arthritis of the eye). Painful, treated with antibiotic drops, and thankfully I haven’t had any episodes in many years.

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