Look Into My Eyes

IT HAS BEEN TEN MONTHS SINCE I HAD CATARACT SURGERY ON MY BABY BLUES. That is not a completely accurate sentence. My eyes are not blue. They have been black on occasion, but never blue…and where else but on my eyes would I have cataract surgery? In fact the only accurate part in that sentence is that it was done ten months ago.

Now that we have that squared away I will move on. I just went back for a follow-up exam with the doctor.

“Doctor Cutie,” as some of his nurses call him, did a complete check-up on my eyes. He said that everything looked as it should. That is from his Point of View. From my POV I had a couple of complaints.

When driving at night I have been experiencing a real problem with glare from oncoming headlights. The glare had been so intense that I didn’t feel safe behind the wheel after sundown. The young Doctor nodded knowingly (They learn that in Medical School) and said that he can fix that problem in thirty seconds right there in the office. My initial thought was that he was going to take away my car keys. He said, “No.”

Read on.

He told me that it is not uncommon, after a year or two, for a film to develop behind the new plastic lenses in the eyes. That film is the source of my glare problem. With a thirty second treatment using a laser beam he can erase that film – permanently.

I gave him an enthusiastic OK to proceed with the laser and, within the aforementioned thirty seconds, his laser gizmo machine from the Acme Company painlessly clicked away that unwanted film on my right lens. We did the left eye a week later.

I can report that it worked to such a degree that there is virtually zero glare at night from those oncoming cars. “It’s a miracle!” I heard someone say. It was me.

I did have another complaint concerning my vision. I told the Doctor that, at times, I was having trouble focusing on things in the distance. Up close was fine, but anything more than twenty feet away was an on again-off again problem. His answer was one that I hear all too often.

“You’re getting old, Krafty. Your eyes tend to get dry as you age and that makes focusing more difficult.”

He suggested that I pick up a little bottle of those fake tears at my pharmacy. They are an over the counter item not needing a prescription. When I noticed that I was having a problem I should give my eyes a squirt and that should help the situation. I’ve tried that and it does help. Who knew?

I have had these two eyes all my life. I am old. They are old and at this point getting a fresh pair is still out of the question. I am grateful for what I have been able to get done. I can see better, colors are more vividly accurate, and I can spend hours reading or at the computer without feeling like I’ve been staring at the sun.

Life is good.

Single Post Navigation

← Older Entry

Newer Entry →