Mission: Vision

I bought myself my third pair of contact lenses last Tuesday, not because I have cash to burn—in fact I don’t. Plastic money saved me again—well-er not really save. When I think about it now, my debt just piled up. Holy crap!

But I need the lenses badly. I ended up choosing to worry about how I’d pay for it later.

Yes I still have my eyeglasses but the world is absolutely better without it and with an almost perfect vision. Having worn a pair of eyeglasses since I think 2001 doesn’t make me a compliant wearer of the so-called spectacles. I wear them because I need to, never because I want to.

The first time I wore a pair of eyeglasses, I had to get used to seeing the world this way:

The two frames tend to merge, creating a rectangular frame. The budge (part of the bifocals just above the bridge of the nose) disappears when you’re wearing
the glasses.

Beautiful sceneries are framed by the eye wires (the material that surrounds the glasses). It’s kind of restricting. My brother has been convincing me to buy those frames with no eye wires as they wouldn’t hide my face aside from allowing me to see the world as it is. But a friend of mine has been advised by her ophthalmologist to get glasses with eye wires that have the capacity to absorb shock when your face hits something. It will prevent the glasses from shattering into pieces and sticking to your eyeballs in case of any accidental impact. Eww.

I’d much rather look nerdy than risk getting tiny pieces of prescription lenses inside my eyes.

Needless to say, all four of my eyeglasses came with eye wires. Unfortunately, I cannot show them all to you since I lost my first eyeglasses the morning of my college graduation day. Tsk tsk. It would have been a nice artifact to keep. Losing it forced my mom to buy me my second pair.

I switched to using contact lenses after my second eyeglasses. I used my Youngblood honorarium to purchase them. Mostly, I got them out of curiosity thus explaining my second thoughts while I was struggling to put them on and off my eyes. They served their purpose though. I felt normal again after I got over the weird feeling of having thin film of plastics touching my eyes for a maximum of 16 hours.

I kept those lenses and somehow preserved them although not in their original state. Soft lenses actually harden when they dry up. Good thing they managed to keep their shape. Here are they now:

A closer look:

Contact lenses, however, cannot stand alone. You would eventually need a good pair of eyeglasses ready in case you can’t slip the lenses as fast and as easily as you should. Thus, me getting my third spectacles, one which proved to be a bad investment. Most of the time, eyeglasses are more expensive than contacts—that is if you do not add in the expenses for solutions and eye lubricants. So here’s a tip. Find a sturdy frame made of materials that won’t react to your skin and sweat. Based on experience, metal and rubber on the temples (the hook over the ears) are a no no. Metal tarnishes from the acidic nature of anyone’s perspiration. On the other hand, rubber melts. Ultimately, you’ll get your money’s worth if your eyeglasses lasts throughout a whole year unscathed.

With the case of my third eyeglasses, its rubber temples melted roughly four months after I first wore it. So I ventured back to contacts lenses, primarily because they are cheaper to purchase. But, as I have previously said, they require maintenance which isn’t too pricey anyway. Plus contacts are more convenient—that is, once they’re in place. It really takes time, patience and luck to become a master at maneuvering them on your eyes.

Before my second pair of contacts reached its expiration date, I accidentally ripped one of them, probably when I tried storing it. I filled my contacts' case with too much solution causing the now-damaged lens to float and get in the way of me twisting the case’s cap on. Yikes!

I found a cheap frame which was originally molded for fashion sunglasses. I saw its potential as a good frame for my fourth eyeglasses. I opted to invest on multi-coated lenses instead—a bit costly but is worth it because of the UV protection and antiglare features it promises.

Heavy rains however place eyeglass wearers to a disadvantage, if not danger, because rainwater tend to cover a nearsighted (or farsighted) person’s vision. If you get what I mean, you’d understand why I have wished on so many rainy times for my eyeglasses to come with wipers. Since my demand for such gadget has not been properly addressed yet, I was compelled to get my third pair of contacts.

Now I am putting them on and off like a pro! (Finally!) Afterwards I sometimes shriek, “I’ve got perfect vision!”

Well, almost!

The sad fact beneath all these is that my eyeballs are probably growing fatter and fatter which explains the gradual progress with regard my myopia (nearsightedness). And believe me, I did my fair share in loading a healthy dose of Vitamin A.

I just hope to be able to hang out at the beach for a few more times before I become too much of an artificial-lens dependent.