On Monday I went for my annual eye exam. My optometrist had a new machine where he could take a photo of the back of / inside my eyes (like photo to the left).
I've been lucky to have had the same optometrist since I was about 5, so nearly 30 years. He was the first one, when I was about 5, to diagnose me with myopia (nearsighted) and astigmatism in both eyes, and amblyopia (lazy eye) in one eye.
In the 20ish years since then my lazy eye got better, my astigmatism has fluctuated, but generally receded, and my nearsightedness has got worse... though for the past 10 to 15 years it has stayed fairly stable.
My past 3 prescriptions are:
On Monday however, my optometrist saw something new, or rather old, but for the first time. He noticed that my retina was weak / thin in a few places, which is apparently common for someone with as severe myopia as myself. There was one spot in the photo of my right eye he was a little concerned about. So he had me book another eye photo in September, to see if there were any changes.
On Wednesday I missed a call from him saying he had taken a closer look at the images and wanted to talk to me about them. I called him back on Thursday, and he mentioned that the one spot looked like a tear in my retina, and wanted me to go see an ophthalmologist to get a second opinion. They managed to book me in for Friday (since I had nothing else to do today).
Appointment was for 10am, so I caught the 9:15 bus (guessing I probably should not be driving afterwards), and got there just before 10. Checked in, filled out forms, saw the technician who photographed my eyes again (the paperwork hadn't made it to them yet), and put dilating drops in my eyes. I waited, trying to read (eventually gave up as my dilated eyes weren't focusing on the magazine print). Then I was taken to the exam room where the cute doctor came in and looked the photos of my eyes and then my eyes - prodding around them a little, and shining a weak laser / light into them to see what they actually looked like.
After having to go to assist another patient, he came back and told me that there was an old tear in my retina, but it looked like it had healed, which isn't that common - usually once one starts, the vitreous fluid will continue to seep through the tear causing a bump to appear inside the eye and obscuring vision. He could see mine was old, and like water marks on a receding lake, could see where it had extended.
He mentioned 2 options. 1) basically close the remaining hole using laser surgery and hope for the best, and 2) close up the hole and then remove the remaining vitreous fluid from behind the remaining 'bump'.
He didn't recommend the second option because where the hole is does not affect my vision (it is in my right eye, almost directly below the outside edge of my eyebrow. Because the eye flips the image, the part of my field of vision in that area is my nose, something I don't necessarily need to see in my peripheral vision).
So we went for option one.
The time now was between 11:00 & 11:20 am. I was taken to a waiting room, and soon taken to a small room for the laser surgery, where I waited, and waited....
Finally around 12:00 the doctor appeared again (apparently the ophthalmologist is a busy place), and after placing eye drops to freeze my eye, he placed a contact lens like thing with something attached to it on my eye (like what the Dr. is holding in the top picture on the right). He then shone the surgical laser in my eye in bursts.... and it hurt.
Between the laser in my eye and being tired, I found it difficult to keep my left eye open. That combined with the short bursts of pain caused me to cry (shed tears is probably more apt). about 5 minutes of that we then went to another room, so he could get part of my eye not able to be reached in the head rest (like the top right photo). This time the pain wasn't as bad. It also only lasted about 5 minutes.
For the next 5 minutes I was half blind (blinded by the light!), and was feeling hungry. As I checked out of the clinic I asked the receptionists for a good restaurant near by... they recommended a Vietnamese place (I enjoy Vietnamese food). I put my sunglasses and hat on, and headed out to eat, only to realize my sunglasses were not dark enough for my still dilated eyes - luckily I found the restaurant and the bus home.
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