i hate the extreme dilation. i wish there was another way. and glitter snow globes are classy. :)

I find that if I just approach it as an interesting experience, it's not so bad - as long as I avoid that accursed ball of fire in the sky.

And at least the modern stuff wears off in a few hours. When I was a young'un, and dinosaurs roamed the earth, it wouldn't wear off until well into the next day...

And yeah, glitter snow globes can be pretty cool. Heck, a swirly glitter iris effect would be kinda neat...

i learned my lesson last time and went to get my eyes checked on a cloudy day. not that i planned it that way, but the gods were feeling nice that day. glitter is the new black!

my mom had both her retinas detatch at 41 and had them reattatched with silicone bands, she's fine now though she may need laser eye surgery soon. I hope you'll be okay.

Sometime around 45 (I forget exactly when), my mom had cataract surgery. At the time, they didn't do replacement lenses, and her eye changed shape enough for her retina to detach.

They did laser surgery, cryogenic, and for years she wore a band like that - which was all fine, except her eye didn't like it, and grew these... things around the band. It was kinda hard to look at.

They eventually somehow fixed it, I don't know how - though she had miserable peripheral vision in that eye.

In any case, I apparently show no symptoms of retinal detachment. It's just the potential glaucoma thing, which, y'know, just means I could go randomly blind...

my mom is pretty much blind as a rat, shes negative 6 in each eye I think andif she gets to negative 8 she cant drive. Im at neg 3 which is all great kinds of fun. I take off my glasses and cant see past my nose...literally.

Yeah, I'm around 3 diopters myself. Just wait - now I've got presbyopia as well, which means I can't see past my nose and I can't see close in.

Focusing using my glasses involves moving them along the bridge of my nose...

Drops in your eyes for the glaucoma take about 5 minutes a night, maximum. I watch my mom do hers all the time. You just stick in the drops, and keep your eyes closed for a couple of minutes. Every night. No fail. Which, ya know, should be a huge concession in exchange for not going BLIND.

I know, dear. It's not like I'm looking at AIDS or anything.

And for this form of glaucoma, there're actually quite a few potential treatments - a couple of them surgical, and permanent.

Of course, until something shows up, I'm going to be seeing an opthamologist four times a year. And possibly more frequently after that, should it happen.

At the worst, I'm mourning my medical independence.

Welcome to the world of the chronic disease. I see my internal med doctor 4 times a year at least, and the opthamologist every 7 months (until now, I can wait a whole YEAR because the hemorrhages in my eyes haven't enlarged). It does suck, but the alternative sucks more. It's like the Hoover versus an Oreck, but in this case you want less suction.

Why, um, thank you, dear.

Do I get a club membership card?

Yes, you do. It's called MedicAlert. Live it, love it.

I'm part of the club, now!

I'm one of the cool kids!

Just a few more years, and I can tell stories like "This one time, in the ICU..."