BIFOCALS
Bifocals & Coffee
During a Zoom call at work two weeks ago, I put my glasses on to read something. I had my camera on so one of my coworkers saw me pull my glasses up slightly so I was looking through the bottom portion of the lenses. I guess it looked like I was looking under my glasses. An IM in the group chat pops up that says, “@Stephanie, they make bifocals so you don’t have to do that.”
I quickly shot back “These ARE bifocals!”
The guy who sent the IM was on mute, but he had his camera on. He almost fell off his chair laughing.
For most of my life, I have had great eyesight, despite coming from a family that all wore Coke bottle glasses. I remember my mom telling me that when she was young, before glasses, she thought that the leaves on trees were just one big leaf that broke off in chunks and fell to the ground. I felt like I had dodged a bullet.
Until about four years ago.
Around mile marker 44 I noticed I was squinting when I was reading sometimes. Then I would catch myself holding my phone or a piece I was proofing at work a little further away from my face. Over the next two years, I went from holding things a “little further away from my face” to “man! If my arms were just a little longer I could read this!”
I finally broke down and bought my first pair of readers while I was at the grocery store with my oldest. We needed to get some medicine for him and I was trying to read the instructions on the box. I couldn’t. I handed the box to my then13-year-old and said “can you read this for me?”
He also laughed at me.
I immediately walked over to the “readers” display and started trying some on. 1.5x magnification did the trick. I could read the box. I dropped the glasses and the medicine into my cart and we went about our shopping trip.
Then, about six months ago, I noticed that I couldn’t always read aisle marker signs at the grocery store if I was more than six aisles away. I couldn’t always read the smaller print on the highway signs. And street signs? Forget it! Couldn’t read them until I was right on top of them.
That’s when I finally made an appointment at the eye doctor. We didn’t have a regular eye doctor at the time. The kids still get their eyes checked at the pediatrician, and I just wasn’t concerned enough to get mine checked. I guess I finally had a good reason.
I decided to get our kids’ eyes checked at an actual eye doctor too. They are on screens a lot and my oldest had been complaining about headaches. Figured I’d check that off the list of causes and get a good baseline for both of them.
While we were checking in at the doctor’s office and getting set up, they asked if we wanted to do a “Macular Pigment Optical Density Test”. They recommended it for “teens especially”. This test measures the Macular Pigment at the center of the retina. Macular Pigment acts like natural sunglasses. The more Macular Pigment you have, the more protected your eyes are. For more information, I found a good article HERE.
What can start to break down Macular Pigment and why do they recommend it for “teens especially”?
Screen time.
So I said yes to the test. In fact, we wall got the test because it can become an issue as you get older too.
Of course it does.
The test is interesting. You look into this device that is kind of like binoculars affixed to a box and they give you a clicker. You look through the binoculars into this box at a pale blue dot on a white background. When you see the pale blue light start to flicker or flash, you click the clicker.
Sure enough, both kids’ eyes are starting to show subtle signs of Macular Pigment degeneration. The doctor said that eating leafing greens will help to maintain current Macular Pigment levels. I almost laughed in his face. He said, “I know, I know.” He went on to say that kale is the best for this and if I can work that into their diet, it would help. Spinach is good too (I can get them to eat spinach with berries and oranges) but kale is the best.
Hilarious!
I did find a kale recipe that our youngest likes. My Kale Pasta recipe is a take on Jamie Oliver’s Super Green Spaghetti recipe.
Both kids did great on the other tests. Perfect eyesight for both of them!
I did not fare as well.
While my Macular Pigment test was more positive than theirs, they kicked my can on all the other tests.
My youngest was in the room with me while I was going through my tests. They handed me a piece of paper and said, what’s the smallest line you can read? I had to force myself to not pull it away from my body to read it. I didn’t get very far down the paper before it was blurry.
Then they had me look across the room at an eye chart with one eye covered and said “what’s the smallest line you can read?”. I read the fourth line down and I heard my youngest laugh at me (if you are keeping track that is the third time I’ve been laughed at for my poor eyesight).
“Soooooo, that wasn’t 100% accurate, was it?”
The eye doctor said, “read the line above it.”
Got it right!
But holy cow! I had no idea my distance vision had slipped that much.
The doc explained, “well, around age 40, you start to see changes…….blah, blah, blah, blah.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got it.
Seriously, how many times does the 40+ crowd have to hear that speech? We should start making it into a drinking game. Every time somebody says something like “well, as you get older….” you take a shot. Well, maybe not a shot. Alcohol really sets off my hot flashes and then I can’t sleep and I’m just kind of miserable. I’d really like some coffee. Okay. How about this? Every time somebody says “well, as you get older…” you get a free cup of coffee from your favorite coffee shop? Yeah. That’ll work.
The doctor prescribed bifocals. My youngest helped me find a cool pair of frames (that go perfectly with my gray hair and sore back), fitted me for them, and got them ordered. Now, you can’t tell they are bifocals because there is no line in the lens, which is nice. However, I need them for reading and for distance. As I write this on my computer, I’m not wearing them because I can see the screen perfectly…….for now, anyway. But as I get older………blah, blah, blah.
DRINK!
I only got one pair of glasses that I have to carry with me at all times if I want to see clearly so I’m going to look at getting another pair of untinted bifocals and a pair of sunglasses through Warby Parker. I downloaded their app and it is very cool. You can virtually try on glasses to see which look good on you. Very fun! Already found a few I want to get.
At the end of the day, the glasses I got at the eye doctor look great and they really do help. Watching TV, driving, and reading are all so much easier. No squinting. No holding books as far away from my face as possible. I can read my phone! Even though I feel old for needing them, I’m going to take the win and appreciate my new glasses for what they are.
Helpful.
Until next time.
#grayhairblogging