Most people consider themselves to be generally healthy. I’m a whopping 35 years old. I get my teeth cleaned every six months, I get a check up at the doctor’s office every… well, it’s been quite a few years there. I go to the dermatologist and the OB/GYN as necessary… but apparently I have overlooked a vital part of my personal healthcare. 

While at the dermatologist office a few weeks ago, the doctor informed me that I needed to have a spot by my eye examined by my optometrist.

My what? Optometrist, why would I need an optometrist? I can see. I mean, I just went to the eye doctor a couple of years ago. Why would I go to the optometrist? 

I put that request from my doctor on the back burner and lived life like always. But in the back of my mind I suppose I was starting to wonder about my vision. I noticed that when things are close to me, I push them away to be able to see them better. And I read newspaper info on a computer and in print all week long. Perhaps it would be a good idea to make an eye appointment, if nothing else, to appease my dermatologist.

I called my husband, asked if we even had vision insurance and got all of the info from him. I knew if I sat on that info I would never actually make the appointment so I turned right around and called a friend of mine who works at a local optometrist. Sure enough, they took our insurance and I got an appointment in the books.

I don’t think it’s normal to be nervous about an eye appointment, but anything that resembles a doctors appointment always makes me a little scared.

Everything in the world came up to make me miss this appointment, but I moved things around to make sure I showed up as I was expected to do.

I’m not sure if it was more curiosity about my vision or not wanting my friend to disown me by my failure to appear that pushed me to go.

When they called me back, I could tell that a lot had changed since my last eye exam. The lady immediately asked when my last exam had been. I shot back, “It’s been about ten years.” Then I got to thinking about it. I was in school when I had my last eye exam, not college, high school. My gosh, it had been 20 years since my last, and only eye exam. I quickly corrected myself and she began to laugh at my obviously flustered face that, first of all I was old enough to say I hadn’t done something in 20 years and then secondly that I had misspoken by 10 years.

She never skipped a beat and began having me look at different things through strange looking machines in the room. 

Everything was surprisingly painless and I felt really great about my eyes as I “passed” different exams they gave me. I may have given myself some internal high fives as I got all of the answers right. I was feeling pretty great about my eyes until the actual doctor came in.

She had me look through yet another funny machine and then showed me how things looked through a clear lens and a prescription lens. 

Well now, for the first time in my adult life I thought I might actually have a little sight issue. It wasn’t an “ah ha” moment, but it was definitely surprising to me to see the difference between the two. 

As I sat there chatting it up with the doctor, she informed me that the image on the screen was a picture of the backside of my eyeball. Let that sink in folks. Who gets to see the backside of their eyeballs? I guess anyone who gets a regular eye exam does, but this was a first for me.

I was way too excited over seeing a picture of the inside of my eye. Can you imagine how I acted when I walked out of the office and they informed me that I was suppose to pick my glasses at that moment. 

I felt a rush of fear and insecurity. I can’t pick out my clothes in the morning without asking for help. I can’t decide what I want for lunch on a daily basis. How in this world was I expected to make such an important decision on my own. 

I stood there staring at the wall of glasses and froze completely. A nice lady came out and handed me a few pair to actually try on. The first one was cute but a little dorky. I think dorky is the style now, so I held on to them. Eventually my friend who works there came out and was a huge help as we laughed at how I looked in some and considered others. I kept apologizing for taking so long. It must have been 15 minutes of changing out glasses in a mirror before we all decided on the very first pair I had tried on.

I sent a picture to my husband for his approval and to my surprise, he actually liked them.

So if you see me on the streets next week and I look like a dorky nerd in my oversized, black-rimmed glasses, feel free to laugh. I know how ridiculous I am going to look in them and I’m good with that. At least I’ll be able to read what I’m actually writing in the newspaper instead of little blurs of letters on the page. 

If it has been a while since your last eye exam, I would suggest making a point to set up an appointment and take care of your eyes.

If your vision is perfect then you are only out a few dollars, but if it has deteriorated through the years, they can really help you out with your day to day activities.