The bane of being myopic

100. 175. Then 275. I am referring to the degree of my short-sightedness.

I do not know exactly when the problem started. All I know is that one afternoon, some years back, I was having lecture on William Blake’s poetry and had some trouble taking down notes from the OHT. But that was not when I discovered that I had developed short-sightedness. My fellow schoolmates were also complaining that the words were far too small and many pairs of eyes were squinting to make out the words flashed on the transparency.

Over the next few weeks, things did not change very much either. I still had difficulties reading from the OHT. This however, I attributed to the inconsiderateness of my teacher who ought to have used a bigger font size. Then one day, I looked around and realized the unnerving truth that I was the only one who could not quite make out the words. The reason why it took me so long to realize this is because since that faithful afternoon, my friend has been the one copying notes from the OHT (visual) while I was in-charge of jotting down whatever my teacher was saying (aural) (We compile both sets of notes after each lecture).

At that age, I thought that I would be free from myopia. After all, it usually strikes when one is still in his childhood or adolescent years; certainly not at eighteen.

I have since then learnt about the bane of being myopic. The vainer part of me resisted having a pair of lenses jutting out from my eyes. The fastidious part of me disliked the feeling of having something rest on my nose all the time. And the independent part of me hated my growing dependency on glasses to bring things into sharp focus.

Within six months, I got my first pair of contact lenses. New problems surfaced. The lenses have to be handled with much care lest they get misplaced. They have to be cleaned thoroughly every night to prevent eye complications from developing. But for me, that was when I realized that I have severely dry eyes. That does not mean that I cannot wear contact lenses. It does mean, however, that I cannot wear them for long hours and is prone to getting eye irritability. On a few occasions, I dozed off on the train and when I woke up, the lenses have hardened in my eyes, causing great discomfort and pain.

Recently, I have switched to one-day Acuvue, which promises more ‘breathable’ lenses. (costly!) Other times, I will just stick to my good, old spectacles and be confident wearing them. But nothing beats having perfect vision. Sigh.