I've not have very extreme vision problems in most of my life but lately, as is the case with a lot of people approaching 50, I have started to have some and the longer I deal with them the more annoying they become.
I have a ton of reading glasses around my house as I am sure a lot of people with farsighted-ness (no idea how to spell that) or Hyperopia have managed to do as they get older.
There isn't a great deal of rhyme or reason behind why I have one particular type of glasses or the other, fashion certainly wasn't part of the consideration. That's not even all of them either. I have a pair in every room in the house and in one room I have them in two places. Basically just anywhere I can imagine ever needing them, they are there because they cost fuck all and I don't want to be hunting around my house for them when I need them.
The ones in the black case on the table was a really stupid purchase that I made thinking that if I throw enough money around a place is going to finally give me something that actually works and it ended up being over $400 and I almost never wear them because the reading potion of them, which is what I really need them for, has a very small target area on the bottom which necessitates me maneuvering my head around like a jerk so I can get to that one special zone where it actually corrects my vision.
I hate it, I hate glasses. I was convinced there must be some sort of surgical solution to all of this so I scheduled and appointment with an ophthalmologist, which is a word I only recently learned how to spell correctly.
I was willing to pay whatever to get the job done, to get a permanent or at least long lasting solution to my issues because it is well beyond just when I am looking at a computer or a phone, my semi-close-range vision is also affected such as when I am watching TV. A big part of the reason why I don't really play video games anymore, even though it was an important part of my youth, is because I can't see the fucking words on the screen unless I stand up and walk across the room. Reading glasses do not help this situation.
After talking to a very friendly and clearly very informed (or at least as well-informed as they can be in Vietnam) doctor lady, she did all the scans and tests and what not and told me that my vision is pretty good.
I hate when doctors say this
I think I know better than anyone whether or not my vision is "pretty good" seeing as how the eyeballs are in my head and I have to see with them all the time. I was nice to her, but she went on to explain to me that Lasik surgery is generally for people younger than me and only for vision where things far away are blurry. Apparently the inability to focus on things close to you is the deterioration of the tiny muscles in the eye that no longer focus the way you want them to when you get older and there is no solution for this.
I don't believe this either.
They gave me a series of eyedrops that are probably just Visine and something else that was red and also some vitamins. This is very common in Vietnam. When in doubt or when they reach the end of the line as far as their expertise is concerned they just give you some stock standard prescription and send you on your way.
At least this ophthalmologist showed me the close up of my eye and showed me that my lens is in good shape and explained to me how lens replacement will not change anything and how Lasik can't really fix my problem.
I started to think about how when I see celebrities in interviews they frequently have glasses on and if there was one segment of society that definitely could afford a permanent solution it would be them. So the doc must be telling the truth about there not being a permanent solution... it was just a real downer for me because I hate wearing glasses.
I suppose if there is one good thing to come out of all of this it is my appreciation for the low-cost nature of the Vietnamese medical system. That is my total bill including the meds I went home with.
It's pretty amazing that I can go to the multi-lingual wing of the hospital, talk to someone that presumably went to medical school, not have to wait really at all, get treated nicely, am surrounded by modern equipment, and even though I went home a bit disappointed by the diagnosis, it cost me a mere $25. Try pulling that off somewhere else in the world especially in USA.
I was a little disappointed in them when I started talking about this new product that is only available in the US called "Vizz" that will cure blurry near-vision like mine and everyone else that needs reading glasses for 10 hours or so. Seriously, if you live in USA check this shit out. It's looks really promising and at just $75 month, I know I would pay for that. Here is their link. I was disappointed because you would think this would be all the buzz in the eye care world but my doctor and her colleagues had never even heard of it. I thought doctors were kind of compelled to stay on top of cutting edge techniques throughout their careers.
It appears as though I have no choice but to just accept the fact that I will need glasses until that magic sauce Vizz becomes available overseas but it was super disappointing to me. I like to believe that there is a medical or surgical solution to almost anything. We can put a full head of hair on a bald person's head these days but we can't make them see anything.
not the best news for me but at least the entire process was rather harmless and most importantly, so cheap that I might have saved money by going to the hospital rather than going to a mid-range lunch.