In the 1st grade, my teacher noticed that I had to keep going up to the board to be able to see it, thus my eye problems began.

Getting glasses is one of my strongest memories. On one hand, I remember being excited to be able to see the specks on the ceiling, and on the other, completely embarrassed having to show my new four-eyed face in class. I was the 2nd person in my 1st grade class to get glasses. Victor was first, so he nicely came out of the classroom with kind words to encourage me inside.

I got contacts in 2nd grade, but wasn’t the best at putting them in. I was the youngest of my optometrist’s patients to get contacts for a purely cosmetic reason. Throughout my younger years I went back and forth with my struggle with contacts vs. glasses. During my very tomboy years, I did not give a crap which I wore…

But it just so happens that I have very big eyes and my strong prescription glasses minimizes them significantly. I switched to contacts, socially, permanently from intermediate school years through high school and beyond.

Because my eyesight is estimated to be far from the normal 20/20… rather 20/2000… I have had horrible problems with contacts. At first they didn’t make disposable contacts in my prescription so I was in yearlies (aka: 1 pair of contacts a year). At first it wasn’t bad, but over time my contacts got really dry and it felt like I had contact drops permanently attached to my hand. Then, when I took one of my first scuba diving classes, I lost one of them, and was in hysterics about it. You would understand why if you knew how I see.

I can hardly see anything at all if I don’t have my contacts or glasses on – I can see a blur of colors and nothing more. People’s faces look like aliens with dark holes as eyes and no nose since I can’t distinguish it. If I drop my glasses (or God forbid my contact) on the floor when I am home alone and it blends in, I end up feeling around the ground for what seems like forever. In fact, my optometrist set up the machine in her office once so that my Mom could see how I saw. When she did, she started crying. That’s how bad they are. My eyes are probably worse than my Mom and Dad’s combined… well they definitely are, now that my Mom has gotten cataract surgery.

I ended up getting rid of my yearlies after the scuba incident in the pool had me freaked out at what would have happened if I was actually in the ocean. However, since they didn’t make monthly disposables in my prescription I opted for the highest prescription possible with the addition of distance glasses. At this point, I had contacts and 2 pairs of glasses, until the next year when they came out with 3-monthlies in my prescription. While the monthlies didn’t dry out my eyes as much, I was scared driving sometimes because I really didn’t see that great (even though I was driving acceptable – passed the 2nd line of the reading chart – How scared are you now of other drivers?) and I saw a lot of glares, so I decided the monthlies would be better.

My mom just developed cataracts and had the surgery to remove them, and her surgeon said that I might be eligible for a few different options. I just had one of my consultations and there is hope for me yet!! I go for my next consultation next week for ICLs. I will keep you posted!!