Eye screening

Ah the tropicamide. Used to always struggle at university as strip lighting was always too painful for me after getting my eyes photographed, so would have to spend the next 4hours in the darkest corners of campus with my sunglasses on looking a little bit wannabe interesting....
Also really fun having to walk for 90 mins as a poor student who can't afford a cab and is too blind to cycle back as the appointments were always in the middle of nowhere!
New clinic is slightly less aggressive with the drops so it goes back to normal faster, thank god. I do remember it being quite a shock the first time however!

isjoberg said:

Ah the tropicamide. Used to always struggle at university as strip lighting was always too painful for me after getting my eyes photographed, so would have to spend the next 4hours in the darkest corners of campus with my sunglasses on looking a little bit wannabe interesting....
Also really fun having to walk for 90 mins as a poor student who can't afford a cab and is too blind to cycle back as the appointments were always in the middle of nowhere!
New clinic is slightly less aggressive with the drops so it goes back to normal faster, thank god. I do remember it being quite a shock the first time however!

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I can relate to what you're saying - the drive to work after my appointments very uncomfortable and I'll only drive if it's cloudy If it's sunny, even with sunglasses - it's just out of the question..

I get my eyes checked by an ophthalmologist every 6 months - same routine -
1, The eye chart test
2. The Glaucoma test
3. Visual retina check after pupil dilation
4. Then he uses this type of retina machine - forget what it's called that does a complete analysis of my retinas and compares that to my previous images - he says before this machine was available the only way to get the same results was to physically take a core sample from the retina which was rather invasive and only done in extreme cases. The procedure takes about 5 minutes usually.

The nice thing about this machine - he bought it himself for a large amount of money, it sits in his office and takes no time at all for the analysis, you don;t even need to dilate your pupils if you're going in for that reason only and yes he treats a lot of people with type 1 and 2 diabetes.

It's funny though - I've been seeing ophthalmologists for as long as I've had diabetes (plus 50 yrs) never had any serious issues but every time I go I worry my fool head off thinking about - "Will it be this time he finds complications?"

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I believe you are advised not to drive for some hours after these drops are administered and your insurance would be rendered invalid in the case of an accident whilst doing so.

Dodo said:

I believe you are advised not to drive for some hours after these drops are administered and your insurance would be rendered invalid in the case of an accident whilst doing so.

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Spot on!

Bad enough walking in bright sunshine but to be sat behind the wheel of a vehicle is lunacy for both legal and health to ones self and others.

Regards

Martin

Regards

Martin

Dodo said:

I believe you are advised not to drive for some hours after these drops are administered and your insurance would be rendered invalid in the case of an accident whilst doing so.

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Not worth the chance of something going wrong......

@Jeff_uk .. Thanks for your post.. got my first screening on 20th Dec.. gotta say I'm not looking forward to it. I have taken the day off work to cover any recovery time afterwards.

Folks, all I'll add is that the complications can be lived with and are not, thank fortune, inevitable. Aye, the drops sting, and my vision these days is pretty much gone for hours after- but the alternative would be ignorance, and that really is scary when retinopathy can be so damned aggressive.

At least the stinging is over after a few minutes; the blurriness lasts for a few hours. I was thankful that it was an overcast day when I had it done last month and that I was able to choose a clinic that is on a direct bus route.