Yeah, it had been five years since I had my eyes checked by my ophthalmologist. As my doctor and I both say, “nurses and doctors are the worst”. So that old saying, “Do as I say, not what I do”, may appIy here. I am sure most eye doctors want their patients to have an annual visit, or at least every two years. I have needed eye glasses since I was in the third grade. Remarkably, over all these years my eyes have changed very little.
I have worn contact lenses since I was sixteen years young. I still have gas permeable contacts. Some people consider them dinosaur contacts compared to daily lenses or soft lenses. But I love them! Plus I am way too practical not to purchase something that will serve me years rather than months. But I noticed a couple of months ago my lenses were becoming rather smudged. I couldn’t get them clear and clean. So I called for my eye visit. Then about two weeks ago I actually lost the left contact as I was removing it from my eye. It just popped out and I never saw it again! I considered myself lucky on the timing of this loss as I was planning on new contacts anyway.
The nurse in me wants to share about all of us taking care of our eyes. There is a jelly type substance inside our eyes that becomes more liquified as we spend more days on this beautiful Earth. My doctor calls this process Posterior Vitreous. (Yes, I had to look this up to spell it properly.) This change in the gel substance can cause changes in our eyes, like maybe seeing tiny specks, or flashing lights, or how well we read print close up. We all know reading glasses come in handy for many of us, and sometimes I hear them referred to as “cheaters”. ( Suddenly I had a memory of a time I spent with a patient and I was wearing my “cheaters”. I may tell this story next week! :O) ) And as we age our eyes need to be checked for eye diseases such as glaucoma and cataracts. Both can cause issues with our vision.
I understand many of us do not have health insurance that covers for vision: eye checks, glasses, contacts, eye surgeries. I learned this past Monday a nice pair of new eye glasses averages around five hundred dollars. But I hope, Dear Reader, you can obtain the information about the cost of having your eyes checked. Maybe save up a little Money, who as you remember, is one of our best friends. Perhaps you could advise family and friends that monetary gifts for birthdays or Christmas presents would be appreciated to help with the care of your eyes. Our eyes are so very important and I know we all know this. So much beauty in this world to see!
c Love, Joan
Just last year I had to see 4 different eye doctors and ended up having to make an appointment with a neuro-ophthalmologist! Did you know Louisville doesn’t even have one !!! There is only a visiting Neuro ophthalmologist that comes to Louisville once a month so I had to see him…. Still can’t drive in the dark but I’ll always chose to count my blessings! Love your beautiful self AND your beautiful eyes 👀… I’m happy you take such good care of both 🦋
Thank you beautiful Lady and sharing your experience! You are a delight!
Hi Joanie! I get my eyes checked once a year or annually. This mainly because of diabetes. Most of us over 60 have cataracts forming and we need to keep an eye on them. I just had an eye exam. Now that I’m on Medicare, most supplements cover your exam. I pay an extra $35 for a special non-dilated internal exam versus them dilating my eyes. I don’t like dealing with dilated eyes. I had to quit wearing contacts because my eyes dried out back in 2000. I hope your exam goes well! Love Ya!
Hi sweet brother! Good to hear from you. I love you, too. We need to talk again soon!
I am glad you have had good luck with your eyes and contacts. Our eyes are very important to most of us. I had an aunt who went blind from diabetes. It has been a reminder to me to care for my eyes and appreciate them! I do have an annual eye exam since I am “older” now and a diabetic. This is all part of the self-care we can all do to help take care of our bodies. Keep looking at the beauty all around!
Yes! self care is so important! Thank you Rick!
What a wonderful idea for a gift for eye appointments. I just recently had mine checked after 5 yrs. I truly thought not much had possibly changed but they had. Not bad but still should not have waited so long. Your such a blessing Joan , you touch on so many things that some of us quite frankly, do not think about in our daily walk about. 💖 Sending much Love my Dear Friend!