Focal, that is. Heh, heh.
After test-wearing three different pairs, I finally ordered my first package of bifocal contact lenses. Well, the box says they’re “multi” focal, but, in my case, they’re just bi. Like my glasses.
I’ve been putting off this decision, but I finally couldn’t stand it anymore. I had reached the point where I was wearing reading glasses over my contact lenses. And then the reading in my right eye took a nosedive while the reading in my left eye wasn’t as bad. So then I had to buy TWO pairs of reading glasses and have my optician swap the right lens out of the weaker pair.
I was quite happy for awhile. However, attending RWA National in San Francisco this summer, I discovered it’s one thing to walk around with your reading glasses on top of your head in the privacy of your own home. But when one is at a conference and one wishes to look less librarian-esque, shall we say, one tends to keep her reading glasses in her purse.
Oh, who are we kidding? “One” is me.
The problem occurred during editor/agent appointments and workshops when I realized I was constantly reaching for the damn glasses. Once back home, I noticed it was getting more and more difficult to even read the grocery list without my reading glasses.
So I had two choices. (1) Finally get laser surgery, or (2) Go bi. I decided to try the bi. Phew! It worked. I still have some kinks to work out. My right eye is primarily doing the distance seeing, and my left eye is primarily doing the reading seeing. My optician was surprised that I wanted less distance in my left eye, but I didn’t see the point in going bi if I still had to wear reading glasses over contacts that cost twice as much as my old ones.
I hear it takes about six months to grow accustomed to laser eye surgery when one eye is done for distance and the other for reading. In my case, with the contact lenses, it’s more a matter of if I remember I’m wearing bifocal contacts, then my eyes screw up. If I just go with the flow, they know what to do.
Yes, someday I will finally give in and have laser eye surgery. However, for now, I still suffer Clockwork Orange-like nightmares when I so much as think about it. Shudder. Am I a wimp?