I'm a big fan of taking preventative steps for health. So, given that it's been 2 years since my last eye health check, I headed back to the optometrist for a check. I should preface this with the fact that I wear glasses for long distance work and had recently noticed that even they weren't strong enough. As in, with them on, I was having trouble reading street signs; without them, I have trouble seeing more than about 10m in front of me without it getting a bit blurry.

So, yesterday I went to have my eye checkup. In good news, I have no serious eye-health issues, in bad news, my eye sight has gotten worse. It's that moment when the optometrist says "Even with your glasses on, you wouldn't pass an eye test" that you realise it isn't good. The main reason is that I rely a lot on my right eye to compensate for the fact that my left eye isn't great. Thus, as the sight in my right eye deteriorates I notice it quite quickly. Oddly, my left eye seems to have stabilised and I now need a slightly reduced lens for that eye. So, I now have two stronger pairs of glasses on order - my normal ones and the sunglasses for driving.

In even better news, my short distance vision is also going so I have a third pair on order (that sigh that you can hear is me realising that I can now lose up to 3 pairs at once). Unsurprisingly I freaked out about that one. The optometrist had to deal with a 27-year old who was freaking out about a number of things - 1. being blind by the time I'm 40, 2. The possibility of having to wear bifocals before I'm 30 and 3. The fact that my eyesight is seemingly deteriorating rapidly.

Luckily, he was a lovely guy and patiently explained what was causing this. Apparently I have a focusing lag which is being exacerbated by the fact that I spend a great deal of time in front of the computer and reading legal texts then continue to compensate for my lack of long distance sight with stronger and stronger prescriptions. Thus, by continuing to only supplement my long distance vision, I would actually be making the problem worse and then by supplementing my short distance vision it could actually help my eyes to stabilise. Not sure whether or not it will work, but it was lovely of him to explain it and to deal with a decidedly scared patient. It's funny, but I always thought that it was at 40 that you started to notice these things, but apparently, your eyesight deteriorates as your focusing muscle starts to lose its elasticity in your early 20s. I just notice it more than most because my right eye has always had to overcompensate for the lack of sight in my left and thus as it starts to slow, it's quite scary.

If nothing else, at least by going for my regular checkups I'm learning something new each time. I'm still hoping that I'll go one year and find out that it's stabilised, but even so, hopefully taking action now will slow the deterioration. I tend to schedule all of my checkups at the same time so that everything is reset at once. Thus Christmas not only means a heap of festivities but eye exams, the girly checkup and dental visits. It's a nice that you know everything is up to date before you start the new year.