Four Eyes

I'm back to being a four eyes...temporarily.

As those close to me know, I've been rocking glasses since I was 11 and contacts since I was 13.  Being a four eyes has been pretty costly for the last 16 years.  I'm grateful that my mom has always made sure that I had the best when it came to my eyes- whether it was special thinner lens or regular check ups.  However, my eyes have gotten worse over the years and I'm pretty much a mess when a contact shifts up my eyeball and I can't see anything for the life of me. 

I've always hated glasses and contacts, but since I've dealt with them for more than half my life, I got used to it.  I first found out about Lasik from my cousin, who did it nearly 10 years ago.  Of course back then it was a foreign concept to me.  Fast forward to a couple years ago when I made the decision that I wanted to get it done in the near future, before I had kids.  I didn't want to do it while I was in grad school because it was a costly procedure (and I don't trust places that do it for super cheap, it's my eyes, after all!) and I felt like I wasn't in a position to spend money back then on something that was cosmetic.  I really believe in not spending money that you don't have- so if you're in debt, what are you doing investing in a cosmetic procedure that would put you in even more debt??  Didn't make sense to me financially.  I also thought about doing it before the wedding, but since the recovery time is extensive, I didn't want to commit time to taking care of my eyes while having to do so much other stuff.  In addition, you're supposed to avoid extensive exposure to sunlight for at least 3 months...and our honeymoon was in Fiji...so the timing wasn't working out.

Since I had waited over 15 years, what was another few months?  So I finally decided that I would do it before the end of this year.  I knew all along that I would go with UCLA, as 1. three of my friends (including Jerry) have done it there with the same doc, and 2. alumni discount!  The procedure is still costly (over 5k), but definitely worth it when I think about how much my mom and I have spent on glasses, lens, solution, and check ups over the years.   The catch was that for those who wear hard contact lenses they have to wear regular glasses for 3-4 weeks prior to the consult and subsequent procedure.

Because my glasses were outdated and I couldn't see as well in them (yeah, I went 3 years without a check up, oops) I had to quickly make an appointment to get new glasses.  Thank god for insurance because when it was all said and done, I paid only 200 bucks for them.  I saved a lot of money by opting to use the same frame.  It seems kind of silly to pay that much money for something that I'll only need for a month, but since I spent 10-12 hours a day in front of the computer and also because there are times when I need to drive late at night, I needed the strongest and best quality glasses to enable me to do my job and live my life.  I've gotten a lot of compliments on them since many of my friends/colleagues don't see me in glasses...but honestly I hate them.  It's been a week and they already annoy me!  But oh well...my consult is in 3 weeks and my surgery is the week after that...so I'll think of it as the homestretch.  

Now if only they wouldn't get in the way whenever I worked out!