Double the Beauty
January 23, 2023
In the category I Never Expected THAT, I have recently learned that I have double vision. And now that this has been determined — first by an optometrist and then corroborated by an ophthalmologist — a whole bunch of my eye issues from, say, the last year finally make sense.
Like, that cool effect I could create last summer while riding shotgun on a roadtrip with Jim, where I could make the car in front of us on the road appear as two stacked cars, clear as day (and then had a hard time bringing them/it back into focus as one. Or all the times driving at night (and increasingly during the day) when I kept having to shake my head from side to center to try and bring everything into focus, thinking it was just 1/ tired eyes or 2/aging eyes or 3/ the start of cataracts or 4/ the start of macular degeneration (hereditary) or 5/ dirty and/or old contacts. Or all the times I complained about not being able to see my screen clearly, sure it was the prescription on my contacts. Or the fact I was regularly closing one eye to read. I just never put two and two together….. or… I just never put two into one… or… let’s just say the problem is now in clear focus: I have a focus problem.
I have so, so many questions left to resolve… causes, options, solutions, long term consequences,
I am somewhat encouraged that there is at least one pretty easy workaround — getting glasses with prism lenses. In the exam room last week, I looked through a thick plastic thing that had a whole bunch of holes in it which, evidently simulates the prism effect, and everything came into perfect focus! New prism-lensed glasses seems promising, but I’m none too happy that contacts may be off the table forever. On the bright side, I was very happy to learn that I don’t have cataracts, don’t have any signs of macular degeneration, and no glaucoma. I was told my eyes are looking quite healthy and clear.. so there’s that!
For now I’ll try to appreciate that I get to take in twice the beauty, and I’ll try not to be weirded out by being a person with double vision.
Life of Wry 