First Contact with Contacts...

This time while I was in Bangalore, I got my eyes tested. I wanted to get it tested here, but always kept pushing it. Finally, when I was walking around in Commercial Street, trying to find a pair of sunglasses for my husband whose luggage was misplaced– courtesy British Airways, I spotted a vision express and decided to get my eyes tested. I was 100 % sure that I will come out of there with a prescription for a pair of glasses and that’s exactly what happened. A week later, just a couple of days before I was to come back to London, I got my new glasses and actually, I could see much better. Initially, I though I did not have a problem with my eyes, but the glasses made realise that I did have a problem (clearly- I was being stupid). I was prescribed a distance vision of -1.75 for left eye and -1.5 for the right eye.

After coming back to London, I used them everyday and then got so used to them and found that I wanted them all the time. I was not able to use my sunglasses as much as I wanted to (considering Sunshine rare here) I could not benefit from both proper vision and sunglasses, as I could not use them together. Some of my friends recommended that I get a photo-chromic glass which reacts to the light. Somehow, the idea of just sticking to one pair of sunglasses and not being able to use my own sunglasses did not go down too well… so I decided I needed contact lenses. Therefore, booked an appointment for getting contacts.. I was told; I needed to get a new eye test for it, after which there would be more tests for contact lens fitting. They also told me, the whole process is going to take 2 hours, I was a bit worried as to what are they going to do with me for 2 hours!

Went to specsavers(store) this Saturday, got my eye test. I was told I had more power when compared to the tests that was done in India, so I was prescribed to wear -2.25 left eye and -1.75 right eye. I was a bit worried as it had only been 2 months since my first test. Anyways, I have to trust someone, so I had to spend some more money and get a new pair of glasses. Then came the contact lens fit time, underwent some more tests, looked in to strange machines, the doctor looked through my eyes with some strange pen like things with lights coming off them etc. After about 20 minutes, the doctor said, my contact lens power is different from the specs power. Its -2.00 for the left and -1.5 for the right and by this stage, I was confused as to what is going on? The doctor addressed my concern, by saying that this is quite common and used some medical terms that went well above my head. He placed the contact lens in my eye; it was more comfortable than I thought its going to be. Then came the fun part.

He sent me to another lady who gave me a session of the do’s and don’ts of contact lens world. She even taught me how to put them on and take them off, she got me to do it myself twice, I was quite happy that I could do it. I was actually dreading the whole idea of placing something in my eye, with the eye wide open. It’s a weird experience, but it’s easy with some practice. I had seen some of my friends do it, and I used to wonder how they do it with such ease and will I ever be able to do something like that?

They sent me off, with contact lenses in my eyes and gave me about 5 pairs of lenses to try. I went home, went to play tennis, and had them on for about 5 hours. I had some trouble taking of the lenses off my eye as it was the first time I was doing it all by myself. On Sunday, I wore them all day, had slight trouble getting them on, as the lenses would not stick to my eye at all. In the end, somehow got them on.. and got them off before going to sleep. I was chuffed :)

I kind of liked the idea of contact lenses, and also the idea of wearing glasses to work. Thoroughly confused - Now I have to decide how often do I want to wear them? Do I want to wear glasses to work? Do I want contact lenses? Do I need contact lenses for leisure or everyday use? Do I go for monthly/daily/yearly? Don’t know the answers to all questions yet, but that’s probably why they have sent me off with some lenses to try and see how I feel with them.