My day today did not go as planned, I intended staying at home all day today.
An email came through at 9: 30 from Specsavers saying it was time I arranged my yearly appointment. So I went online to making appointment and there was one today at 10:45 and I I'm not even dressed I'm not even washed. But there were no more new appointments until the new year. So I'm thinking should I get dressed quickly not even going to have time for a shower, and just go. Anyway I booked the 10:45 slot and I got out as quick as I could and I made it with literally seconds to spare.
I just had the gut feeling I should go.
Everything seems to be going fine at the appointment, the OCT scan was perfect.
Then the sight test the way they do these things now. Left eye is apparently much better than last year, it has improved a lot. But not the right eye my right eye is usually a bit blurred. I remember it was blurred as usual on the eye test last year and I had difficulty reading some of the letters in my right eye but the optician didn't say there was any particular problems with my right eye last year, and said that the prescription was the same so I didn't change my varifocals last year.
This year I couldn't make out any of the letters with my right eye, but the opticians room was too warm for me and I kept steaming up the the glass thingy I was looking through. And my eyes felt very dry in that heat. The optician cleaned the condensation off the glass and then I could make out some of the letters.
It was then she said I had cataracts in my right eye.
And I have to go to an appointment next week for it to be assessed. And then there is a 2 year waiting list for the cataract operation...
And on the High Street when I came out of the opticians I took my glasses off, shut my not so good eye and could read car number plates, appropriate distance absolutely no problem. Then shut my good eye and I could still just read number plates, appropriate distance, with my not so good eye.
Am I in denial what the female optician said about cataracts in my right eye or what?
Anyway I'm back home now I'm sitting in my bedroom looking (without my glasses) alternatively through my good left eye and then my right eye, and my slightly blurred right eye view doesn't look any much different to me than than it has for a long time.
I can see better without my glasses using just my right eye. I can read words with my right eye without my glasses, they're a little blurred but not too bad.
Anyway, I have a new prescription for varifocals, but the glasses won't be ready for a couple of weeks...
The optician, who I've never seen before, seem to think that these cataracts had happened rather rapidly. But I am looking around my bedroom with my not so good right eye (with no glasses on) and I can see relatively clearly and I can read the notices on my boxes so I'm just wondering. What happened at the opticians when I couldn't see those letters clearly with my right eye.
Presumably I might get some more answers when I'm examined properly for the cataracts next week.
I am not panicking (yet).
The optician said the left eye vision was quite a lot improved from last year, and that the left eye improvement was compensating for my poor right eye ...
I have never heard of that before.
I am going to have my nap I never got this morning. I didn't get back until mid afternoon, I did a couple of messages so that I didn't have to go out tomorrow...
I don't know if there's anything to worry about yet or not. I keep looking around my bedroom with my good left eye shut and my bad right eye open and I can't see that everything looks any different than usual, but it was just I couldn't read those letters at the opticians, but the equipment kept steaming up because the heating was far too hot in there.
I suppose I'll find out at this appointment next week if there is a problem or not.
I wear varifocals all the time except for garden wear. Less dizzy.
I needed reading glasses since early forties, but my distance had always been perfect.
It wasn't until around my mid fifties at my opticians, that the eye test concluded I needed distance as well as reading.
So I used separate glasses, which I got use to.
Until I started on my last job about ten years ago. When I was swapping glasses every five seconds doing the work or just leaving my readers on. Which wasn't good, when I was squinting in the distance.
I got an offer on my next visit to the opticians, have had them for about seven years ish.
A visit in the end of the pandemic, the optician told me two things, one was I might need an appointment for cataracts, the other was for more suitable and more expensive varifocals.
I said I would think about it. I didn't because I got the same spiel about not bad enough and long waiting lists.
I returned for my next screening this year and had the necessary, he told me, no cataracts and the specs are fine, and my eyes on distance have improved. Go figure? Same guy!
So I went to Specsavers for a check and they verified everything my opticians had said but added they had more stylised frames, meaning a vanity or fashionable pair! I wasn't playing.
Varifocals are expensive, you do need to be certain they are right for you. And they do take a week or so to get used to them. Just be careful!
But they are very good, if you need them!
