yet another eye update
- November 21st, 2013
- Posted in Uncategorized
- Write comment
Another week, another appointment. I was getting really worried, because a few days ago (same number of days past surgery as the first time when things went wrong), I started seeing some dot floaters in my right eye. Then on the way downtown, the sun was out, and I saw a lot of them, and kind of panicked.
BUT: despite all the dots, the retina is still well-attached. I made Dr. Saperstein do a second, higher-magnification check and it passed that too – though he was a little nonplussed about a second check. But it helped when I saw the device he needed to use on my eye and instead of squicking said, “oh, this. I don’t mind this,” and he settled down and did the extended check.
So at this point, things should be okay. I have another appointment in two weeks; I will be able to wear contact lenses again (if not with full vision) by this coming week. This is a big deal, because seriously, glasses? Even with two normal eyes? No depth perception. As in, none. As in, I have more with one eye in a contact lens.
This is because there’s more to depth perception than parallax, which is what two eyes gives you, and apparently the parallax data I get from two eyes through glasses is so very very out to lunch that my visual processing centre says NOPE and goes on vacation.
Plus, my glasses are heavy, and hurt my nose.
So I’m really looking forward to contacts again. And seeing things. You know. Stuff like that.
I still have a few more days of restricted activities, but only a few. It’ll take longer than that to get full vision back, but it’ll follow eventually. Can’t come soon enough, either. Still: most of the way home. Just keep thinking that. Most of the way home.
I tried contacts for exactly three days, back in the mid 1980s(when contacts were pricy). I could not get used to them( bloodshot, burning eyes, headache..and I was following the instructions to the letter), and went back to glasses. I would think a contact lens wouldn’t be a good idea in an eye that’s had surgery recently. You can get really featherweight glasses, but they’re fragile. Years ago, a coworker discovered the hard way that the fumes off silicone gasket gunk (pretty much the same gunk as silicone house caulk) and contacts are a baaaad combination. For me, glasses do double duty as safety lenses as well (bike riding, crud falling off shelves at work, and so on)
I wonder why you lose depth perception with glasses but not contacts? The only thing that comes to mind for me is that contacts move with your eyes,and this has some sort of effect. Ain’t no such thing as a standard human being-everyone reacts to things differently.
4 comments at Livejournal; 2 comments on Facebook.
@Scott: Contacts have become much easier on the eyes since then. But if glasses work for you, then by all means continue! They can be cute, too.
Apparently, the people at the retina centre have seen this 3D vision phenomenon before; it’s rare, but by no means unknown, and on the standards of rare shit what I got to put up with, it’s pretty low on the scale.
As for your friend: yeah, the only reason I even have these glasses are because of bio lab fumes. Back in school at UW and Shoreline (2006-2007-ish) I was regularly working in lab with materials which would adhere contacts directly to your eyeball. So GLASSES, AHOY! And suddenly, stairs became a challenge.