PRK Update
In February, 2005, I had PRK surgery performed on my eyes to correct my vision. The surgery was successful even though I needed to wear the contact bandage an extra three days. My eyes corrected to 20/15. I did need reading glasses, but I needed those before the surgery.
Less than a year later, I was getting headaches at work. I began to suspect eye strain on the computer. During a follow-up exam, I asked about it, and sure enough, I needed bi-focals — for the close-up of reading and the middle distance of the computer.
For some time now, my vision has felt a little off. At the beginning of the month, I had an eye appointment. My vision is still technically 20/15, but I have to strain to get to it, and it wasn’t very sharp. So the optometrist doing my exam wrote me a prescription to “sharpen” my vision. The glasses came today. They’re great for close-up and they have sharpened my distance vision. Unfortunately, that they aren’t good for anything in the middle distance. She tried to give me some range on the reading side, but it just isn’t enough for the end of my arm reading of looking at a computer screen. And, to use the bifocal part on the glasses, I have to tilt my head way back. I can see why hubby hates my computer set up now.
I guess I might have to go back and get this re-evaluated.
Why am I calling this a PRK update? Because it seems my eyes are drifting back toward their natural tendency from before the surgery. However, before the surgery, I was something like -5.6 on my prescription. Today’s distance glasses are -1.0. That’s a very minor correction. It’s as if I’m in second or third grade all over again. At that rate, in about three years or less, I’ll need them for driving. In seven years or so, I’ll be legally blind without them again. That would mean I’d gotten a ten to twelve year window of success from my eye surgery.
I’m not sorry I had it done, but I wonder if they knew this. Or, I wonder if this is what the doc meant when he said I was a prime candidate for needing a redo. I initially thought the redo would come within six months. Maybe he meant ten years. I didn’t know enough to ask at the time.
Bummer. I sure wish they’d clone eyes for folks. I could do with a new pair myself.
I had mine done in 2000. They could not get the left eye as sharp as the right eye, but it worked out better that way. They called it monocular vision. I did need reading glasses, but only for the smallest of print. Ten years later and my vision is about the same at distance, but the print seems to be shrinking. 🙂
Joyce and I both get our computer and reading glasses at the Dollar store. And they only cost a dollar. 😉
They are low power, about 1.5 magnification, and they do the trick. We also use them for reading.
I guess I one of the lucky ones since they told me it would not last too long because of my age. I can still see and identify a small bird several hundred yards away and read road signs just a far. Hope you have the same results.
Dane, I think you were one of the lucky ones.
Well, the new glasses make a pleasing difference for road signs and distance clarity. One is a -.75 and the other is a -1.00, so I don’t need them for driving, but I noticed today that the writing on a stop sign from a block away is clear with the glasses on. I know it’s a stop sign without the glasses.
The close in reading is fine as well. That’s a +2.00, and I can do Dollar Store type reading glasses for that. In fact, I have several pair at various locations just for convenience.
It’s the middle distance I lose with these new glasses — from two to three feet. The computer range — or, for hubby and people like him, the sheet music range. If I’m sitting normally or leaning forward in the chair, I can see the screen fine, but I have to tilt my head up. If I lean back in my chair, which I do often, everything blurs. So I use my old glasses for the Mac Mini. It’s easy enough to leave them at the computer and swap.
I suspect much of my problem is the sharp line on the bifocals — I had progressives before, and I didn’t get that sudden blurry area as I glanced down at the ground in front of me. It may just require an adjustment period, or it may be problem. I’ll give it a few days. It’s odd wearing glasses again. While I don’t need them to get by, I do enjoy being able to look out the window and see distinct edges on the garage shingles instead of a dullness where the edges are or individual leaves on a tree(for example). It’s not a big thing, but it’s noticeable. It’s like a haze being lifted.