Eye Doctor Stuff.
Nov. 17th, 2007 12:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badstarWent to the eye doctor today. My gawds...I don't think I've ever had such an unpleasant eye doctor visit.
First of all, it took nearly three hours...and most of that was sitting in one of two rooms waiting. maybe I'm just used to much smaller practices than this but I've never had three different people deal with different parts of the appointment. Prior to this, it's all been just the doctor.
Anyway, aside form the hurry up and wait, the initial checking of vision and asking of a few background questions went pretty normally. The doctor came in, talked for a few minutes then got down to eye dilation business. Explained that he would give me two drops in each eye. That's a little different form what I'm used to (one drop in each) but whatever. He puts the first drops in and I immediately feel like I've been hit in the forehead- I mean, if I didn't know better, I'd swear I was hit by a board or something similarly large and flat, and my eyes started to feel strange. I commented about that because I'd never had such a sensation before and the doctor kinda brushed it off which seemed odd to me. I also commented something about hoping that the eye drops wear off faster than I remember them being before, to which he commented that they should wear off in about two and a half hours instead of four to six. He also said something about how the first drops were numbing drops, and then it made sense that my eyes felt weird (I've had my eyes numbed once before and have always hoped that I would never have to experience that again.), and I told him that I wish he had let me know that he was going to do that before...to which he started going on about how he had to use them otherwise the dilation drops would cause so much pain I wouldn't be able to open my eyes for twenty minutes or more, that they would cause a spasm and how I'd obviously known what it felt like if I'd ever had my eyes dilated before and I shouldn't have to have a warning- no, the eye dilations I've had have all involved one drop in each eye, and have NEVER made me feel like I had just been hit by a blunt object in the forehead.
He gave me the second drops, saying that he'd be back in 10-15 minutes and left me in the room. In that time, I started to feel worse. Now I've never had a sinus headache before, but what followed, I have to guess felt like a severe sinus headache...a lot of pain and pressure above and below my eyes and around my nose and I just wanted to cry, it hurt that much. When he came back in, I let him know what happened and his reaction was pretty much "Well, you'd never know that I had put numbing drops in if I hadn't told you." Uhhh...excuse me? Didn't I SAY that my eyes felt strange and that I felt like I had been hit in the head as soon as the first drops went in, BEFORE he had said that they were numbing drops? I might not have realized at the moment that they were numbing drops, but I knew something was weird. He then commented that the light sensitivity was normal...light sensitivity? The light wasn't bothering me at ALL and I told him as much. He said he'd make a note in my file for future reference but that it didn't change anything *sigh*
When all was said and done, he said that my retinas looked to be in perfect shape, which isn't often the case for someone as severely nearsighted as I am. This was a relief to hear since one of those little fears in the back of my mind is torn retinas- my mom had torn retinas twice- the first time, she was younger than I am now, and the second time she was either as old as I am now or just a little older.
After that, I went out to iron out the details of new glasses. I just LOVE it how picking out new glasses always happens when your vision is all messed up due to pupil dilation. My vision is bad enough that trying on frames with demo lenses when things are normal is kinda dicey, add dilated pupils to the mix and focus and clarity are all weird...uhg.
I ended up going above my allotted frame cost, so I have to pay the difference but all of the frames within my covered cost were either ugly as hell or too small for my face. I wound up with a pair of purple frames that look black from a distance (I've worn metal frames for years, I think the last colored frames I've had were navy blue in high school.) in the wide, narrow rectangular shape that there's a lot of lately. I never would have thought that that shape could look good on my face, but they actually seemed to look pretty decent. I'm also getting high-index lenses plus the fact that the lenses are much smaller than what I usually have, I'm not going to have the really thick lenses anymore. This makes me happy. I'm going to look into getting contacts probably shortly after Christmas. I got kinda annoyed with the eyewear specialist- every time I tried a new frame on, she would comment about how that shape is so in style. After a few of these, I finally said "Look, I honestly could care less about them being in style, I just want them to look decent on my face." Even still, she voiced enthusiastic approval of the purple frames when I decided on them because they look nice and fit my nose just so, and they're so in style right now, whereas the sort of frames I've been wearing aren't anymore. It was enough to make a little piece of me want to put them back and get a pair of frames more like I have now...but I would have to live with them and quite frankly, I like the new ones. I'll get them in about two weeks.
Oh...and they had a few frames from a brand called Apollo Eyeware. Made my brain hurt once the initial surprise of seeing "Apollo" on the demo lens decals wore off. And they were ugly...even if they weren't ugly, I don't think I would have tried any of them on, much less picked them out, the whole idea was just far too cheesy.
After the eye doctor, I wandered around the harbor a bit, then went to Barnes and Noble. Got a copy of The Mabinogion, and finally have The Double Life Of Veronique on DVD. Woohoo!
It's rather tragic that Krysztoff Kieslowski died and he only ever got to make two movies with Irene Jacob...both Red and The Double Life Of Veronique are such great movies. I think Red is my favorite of the Blue White Red trilogy and The Double Life Of Veronique was just...wow...
This brings my DVD collection to a whopping thirty. :-)
Currently waiting for a phone call from my mom...I might try to get ahold of her one more time because I want to go to sleep before too long. Planning to go to Towson tomorrow and obtain a new backpack...I miss having a backpack. Also need to grab coffee at Trader Joe's.
First of all, it took nearly three hours...and most of that was sitting in one of two rooms waiting. maybe I'm just used to much smaller practices than this but I've never had three different people deal with different parts of the appointment. Prior to this, it's all been just the doctor.
Anyway, aside form the hurry up and wait, the initial checking of vision and asking of a few background questions went pretty normally. The doctor came in, talked for a few minutes then got down to eye dilation business. Explained that he would give me two drops in each eye. That's a little different form what I'm used to (one drop in each) but whatever. He puts the first drops in and I immediately feel like I've been hit in the forehead- I mean, if I didn't know better, I'd swear I was hit by a board or something similarly large and flat, and my eyes started to feel strange. I commented about that because I'd never had such a sensation before and the doctor kinda brushed it off which seemed odd to me. I also commented something about hoping that the eye drops wear off faster than I remember them being before, to which he commented that they should wear off in about two and a half hours instead of four to six. He also said something about how the first drops were numbing drops, and then it made sense that my eyes felt weird (I've had my eyes numbed once before and have always hoped that I would never have to experience that again.), and I told him that I wish he had let me know that he was going to do that before...to which he started going on about how he had to use them otherwise the dilation drops would cause so much pain I wouldn't be able to open my eyes for twenty minutes or more, that they would cause a spasm and how I'd obviously known what it felt like if I'd ever had my eyes dilated before and I shouldn't have to have a warning- no, the eye dilations I've had have all involved one drop in each eye, and have NEVER made me feel like I had just been hit by a blunt object in the forehead.
He gave me the second drops, saying that he'd be back in 10-15 minutes and left me in the room. In that time, I started to feel worse. Now I've never had a sinus headache before, but what followed, I have to guess felt like a severe sinus headache...a lot of pain and pressure above and below my eyes and around my nose and I just wanted to cry, it hurt that much. When he came back in, I let him know what happened and his reaction was pretty much "Well, you'd never know that I had put numbing drops in if I hadn't told you." Uhhh...excuse me? Didn't I SAY that my eyes felt strange and that I felt like I had been hit in the head as soon as the first drops went in, BEFORE he had said that they were numbing drops? I might not have realized at the moment that they were numbing drops, but I knew something was weird. He then commented that the light sensitivity was normal...light sensitivity? The light wasn't bothering me at ALL and I told him as much. He said he'd make a note in my file for future reference but that it didn't change anything *sigh*
When all was said and done, he said that my retinas looked to be in perfect shape, which isn't often the case for someone as severely nearsighted as I am. This was a relief to hear since one of those little fears in the back of my mind is torn retinas- my mom had torn retinas twice- the first time, she was younger than I am now, and the second time she was either as old as I am now or just a little older.
After that, I went out to iron out the details of new glasses. I just LOVE it how picking out new glasses always happens when your vision is all messed up due to pupil dilation. My vision is bad enough that trying on frames with demo lenses when things are normal is kinda dicey, add dilated pupils to the mix and focus and clarity are all weird...uhg.
I ended up going above my allotted frame cost, so I have to pay the difference but all of the frames within my covered cost were either ugly as hell or too small for my face. I wound up with a pair of purple frames that look black from a distance (I've worn metal frames for years, I think the last colored frames I've had were navy blue in high school.) in the wide, narrow rectangular shape that there's a lot of lately. I never would have thought that that shape could look good on my face, but they actually seemed to look pretty decent. I'm also getting high-index lenses plus the fact that the lenses are much smaller than what I usually have, I'm not going to have the really thick lenses anymore. This makes me happy. I'm going to look into getting contacts probably shortly after Christmas. I got kinda annoyed with the eyewear specialist- every time I tried a new frame on, she would comment about how that shape is so in style. After a few of these, I finally said "Look, I honestly could care less about them being in style, I just want them to look decent on my face." Even still, she voiced enthusiastic approval of the purple frames when I decided on them because they look nice and fit my nose just so, and they're so in style right now, whereas the sort of frames I've been wearing aren't anymore. It was enough to make a little piece of me want to put them back and get a pair of frames more like I have now...but I would have to live with them and quite frankly, I like the new ones. I'll get them in about two weeks.
Oh...and they had a few frames from a brand called Apollo Eyeware. Made my brain hurt once the initial surprise of seeing "Apollo" on the demo lens decals wore off. And they were ugly...even if they weren't ugly, I don't think I would have tried any of them on, much less picked them out, the whole idea was just far too cheesy.
After the eye doctor, I wandered around the harbor a bit, then went to Barnes and Noble. Got a copy of The Mabinogion, and finally have The Double Life Of Veronique on DVD. Woohoo!
It's rather tragic that Krysztoff Kieslowski died and he only ever got to make two movies with Irene Jacob...both Red and The Double Life Of Veronique are such great movies. I think Red is my favorite of the Blue White Red trilogy and The Double Life Of Veronique was just...wow...
This brings my DVD collection to a whopping thirty. :-)
Currently waiting for a phone call from my mom...I might try to get ahold of her one more time because I want to go to sleep before too long. Planning to go to Towson tomorrow and obtain a new backpack...I miss having a backpack. Also need to grab coffee at Trader Joe's.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-17 08:51 am (UTC)I asked you about the DR in the PM, don't worry about answering it there (I didn't know you posted it here).
Okay, uh...this might be long. Sorry!
That really sucks. The dilation part especially. I've had sinus headaches so I know the feelings. I've never had to be dilated though, which is weird.
My one and only bad eye DR visit was when I went to one of those commercial eye DRs (the one with the 2-for-1 deals)--I forget the name, it sucked. They totally glossed over my eye "disturbances" as I call them, when 2 years later I discover they might be symptoms of Partial Simple Seizures--something serious. They basically were like "huh, whatever" about it--probably assuming they were just floaters, which they're not. They were also really quick, I didn't feel like they addressed my concerns. I've never had my eyes dilated (in the 8-ish years I've gone), thank god. The thought creeps me out. Then when I chose my glasses (2 pairs) it was all good till I got them back and there was this horrid rainbow bright light that bounced off any light straight into my eyes. It was unbearable, I also have photo-sensitivity and that made my eyes hurt. I took them back, the said they'd fix it. Two weeks goes by, I call them and they said they've been waiting for me (WTF? Why not let me know?). I go down and all they did was paint it (in a very messy way) with this tint on the edges. I was pissed-- and uncharacteristic of me, near tears. It was just annoying and I really can't see anything without (I can't comfortably cross a street because I can't see the signs, etc) my glasses so I wanted them. They then promised to do what they said they'd do in the first place-- totally replace the lenses with matte edges. Even with thin lenses (Ultra Lites or whatever they're called) it still sicks out a little so matte was a must. After that I said I'd never go back and last year (that was 2 years ago, the crappy place) I went back to the guy I was seeing all along (for the other 7 years, as I said I have to go yearly). He took time to listen to my problems and answer my questions, so yeah...much better. I'm staying away from those huge eye places, they're too much about quantity, not quality. Even though the good DR works at an Eyes Rite -- it's a one man show, sort of like his own practice.
When all was said and done, he said that my retinas looked to be in perfect shape, which isn't often the case for someone as severely nearsighted as I am.
How bad is your nearsightedness?
As I said in the PM mine is worse than 20/300 in my right and a tiny bit less than that in the left. Every year since I was 15 they've been getting worse and worse. Drastically. One year it was only 20/40, the next 20/80 the next 20/110...20/200, etc. I wonder when it'll stop. Eventually if it does I might be able to get Lasik. I've never had any retina problems, in fact last year he told me they were perfect. Being nearsighted doesn't always equal bad retinas, I guess. But for me since I'm not having any problems with my actual eye my visual "disturbances" are probably caused by my brain. Yippy. Which is why I have to see a neurologist.
Anyway, went off on a tangent I think. Heh.
I sometimes do that...long comments. Hope you don't mind.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-17 03:00 pm (UTC)If I can figure out a way to wire and clamp it into place, I'm going to solder my old pair back together. I'm a metalworker, and I know how to repair them.
How near-sighted are you? I'm currently down around 7.25 and 7.75, which is somewhere on the bad side of 20/1000. Then again, I can do my metalwork in vast detail because I can focus at inches from my eyes, and can literally count the pores in a patch of skin.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-17 05:39 pm (UTC)When I was younger, my mom took us to lenscrafters. Didn't have a problem there, except when I first got contact lenses- they never did a fitting, just took measurements and ordered the prescription. And one time we went to one of those eyedoctors in wal-mart. the glasses were ok. The contact lenses on the other hand...even worse than the lenscrafters debacle- this mess actually stradled the time that I moved to Texas frm Pennsylvania.
When I first had my own insurance when I was 20 or 21, I had the choice between three doctors in the entire county. turned out that one of them was one of the best doctors in the county, was recommended to me by three or four people, and at one point I got a call from the wal-kmart place that I hadn't been there in three years and wasn't it time for an appointment, I said no, I was seeing another eye doctor now, thankyouverymuch and could you please forward my records. They started trying to talk me out of it, I said no again and they asked who I wanted to have the records forwarded to, when I gave them the doctor's name, she said "Oh. Nevermind, yeah I guess I wouldn't want to come back to us after seeing Dr. Oxenberg either."
Best eye doctor ever. Teeny little one-man practice. Actually bothered to do the decent contact fitting (which I never got because my insurance covered glasses or contact, I can't be without glasses when contacts are out, and I would have been getting gas permeables, which canNOT be worn for anywhere near as extended an amount of time as soft lenses. When he did the cornea curvature measurement and found out that both of my corneas had the exact same curvature (apparently, this is a very rare thing) he still fitted the lenses in both eyes (good thing because for some reason the first lens, when put in my right eye fit so perfectly, I couldn't feel it but when put in my left eye, I felt like my eyeball was being clawed out. He retook the measurement three times- with a different instrument even to be sure he was getting it right and each time it came out exactly identical, so that was really weird.
Anyway..wish I could go back to the same eye doctor, but I'm in Maryland and he's in PA. If I had a car, I so would have looked into seeing if he took my insurance and just made the trip up there.
I don't know what the distance is, but I know my eyes are bad. My current prescription is like 11.5 in one eye, 13 in the other, but they're fairly stable. I don't know what the new numbers are, but its been about seven years since I've had new glasses and the doctor said that they've only worsened very slightly. So bad as they are, they're pretty stable- it's like they got really bad really early (I started wearing glasses when I was in first grade) and then have only been worsening very slightly over time.
Despite my reluctance to continue talking to this doctor, I did ask about laser surgery and what makes one a good candidate for that. One of the major things he said was to have a stable prescription for at least a year, with only minor adjustments needed in the prescription if any, which seems to be consistent with what I've found in reading elsewhere.
Long comments are ok. Tangents are common.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-17 05:44 pm (UTC)Obviously true in my case, at least at this point. Though, when the nearsightedness is an eye problem and not somethign like a neurological problem, it makes one much more susceptible to things like torn retinas because what usually causes it is that the eye is not of a proper shape...as I understand it, usually the eyeball is spherical, but when one is near-sighted, the eyeball is somewhat flattened, which causes the focus to land not on the retina, but in front of it. (opposite with farsightedness, in which the eyeball is somewhat elongated, causing it to focus behind the retina)
in either case, the retina is distorted, and the worse the distortion, the more likely it is to get stretched and grow thin in spots.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-17 05:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-18 03:22 am (UTC)Yes, that is true. It is something to worry about with crap-tastic vision like us. Heh. I was thinking I had a torn retina before with all the weird lights I see, but he told me they were fine and the vein around the eye was fine.
Unfortunately, I have both problems-- eye and neurological.
My visual acuity problems are solely in my eye and my "disturbances" are probably in my brain (occipital lobe before the visual association area I assume as they're not full out images, just abstracts--just guessing).
My eye DR told me I'd know if a retina tore as it's look like a bright light all the time-- or something like that.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-18 03:36 am (UTC)Worse than 20/1000? DAMN!
I thought I figured yours out, but if yours are worse than 20/1000 then I must be wrong!
This was what I wrote though:
I think in the Snellen chart you'd be around--if it's using the "decimal" column:
20/200 to 20/160 for your 11.5 eye
And 20/160 for your 13 eye.
Look under the "Visual acuity scales" here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_acuity
It's a gray chart on the right.
Mine's not even on the chart... heh.
This was from my old LJ:
In Diopters 20/something
-------------------------------
-0.50 20/25 to 20/30
-1.00 20/30 to 20/50
-3.00 20/300
-4.00 20/400
-5.00 20/600
-6.00 20/800 "
(I was using a different chart)
My OD SPH is -3.25 and my OS SPH is -2.75 ...so is would be okay to say that they are 20/275 and 20/325? Wow my one "good" eye is getting even crappier. Damn.
I always ask for the 20/something so I have a gauge, though I realize it's not totally accurate.
Maybe your 11.5 & 13 are actually the Diopters and so 20/1000 would make sense.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-18 03:52 am (UTC)The AOA (2004a) includes other levels of visual impairment including profound low vision at 20/500 to 20/1,000. Acuity levels of less than 20/1000 generally qualify as near total blindness. Total blindness is considered to be present when there is no light perception (AOA, 2004a; Shoemaker, 2002).
http://www.lowvisionsolutions.com/resources/visual_impairments.html
Have your eye DRs mentioned the near total blindness and your vision? I think you can apply for assistance with jobs and such if you have vision that bad. It's usually not correctable to any helping amount.
Not sure if this would apply to you:
"However, as the level for diagnosis for legal blindness is 20/200 or a visual field of less than 20 degrees, many of the people within this category may be labeled legally blind." (the same link)
(20/200 is all it's correctable to that is)
no subject
Date: 2007-11-18 03:57 am (UTC)I have no work troubles as a result. I just have to keep glasses on, and like I said before...I'm looking into laser surgery in hopes that that can at the very least greatly reduce my prescription, but the doctor I saw yeterday said that even with nearsightedness as severe as mine, it's still possible that the surgery can correct it to 20/20, or even better than that.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-18 05:06 am (UTC)I'm still correctable to 20/20 as well.
You're lucky yours is correctable with acuity as bad as yours, many people aren't that lucky. I knew a girl that was only correctable to 20/200 with vision similar to yours.
I was also told Lasik would help me as well, but my eyes would have to stop changing for at least 2 years to qualify...and they haven't yet. Still waiting, lol. If you can get the surgery that'd be great. Just make sure you find a good DR--I've read some "horror" stories about it.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-18 06:59 am (UTC)Obviously, it isn't a perfect correspondence — as you know since you read the article. Really, though, at those numbers it would be CF (counting fingers) instead of Snellen.