Contact lenses the best thing ever?!

Hellooooo guys,

Been a while since I last posted. Well the blessed and the most awaited one month june holidays are finally here and it feels absolutely amazing to sleep at home and wake up at my own time and study at my own convenience with no pressure of homework. Although, I do have to go to school once or twice for History, but other than that, it's a legit break. I know many of you guys are like "what break?" since we have to mug for the dreaded prelim 1 but hey...come on...would you rather have school and lessons and homework and prepare for prelims at the same time or sit at home and just prepare? Yes, I thought so too

ANYWAY GUYS SERIOUS STUFF HAS HAPPENED THE PAST TWO DAYS AND I HAVE TO SHARE THIS WITH YOU ALL BECAUSE YOU ALL CAN AVOID LANDING IN THE STATE THAT I AM IN RIGHT NOW BECAUSE I KNOW MANY OF YOU WEAR CONTACT LENSES LIKE ME!!!

So yesterday I had to go for History lecture, and suddenly my right eye starts to burn a lot. I couldn't look at the screen because anything bright would start irritating my eye and make me tear a lot. It became so bad that I could barely keep my eye open and tears just kept flowing. And to top that off, Whenever I blinked or moved my eyes, I felt this really pinchy kind of a pain and it was just the most painful and uncomfortable thing and my eye really swelled up a lot after that. At first, I thought it was due to my lenses not being clean enough and probably a dust particle on it that was hurting me. So I was expecting my eyes to feel relieved as soon as I removed them. But even after removing them, NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL. I couldn't even text anyone because the light from the phone screen hurt my eyes. So I just went to sleep hoping that when I wake up, the pain will magically be gone. But when I woke up, there was no difference. I felt like I was trapped and I just wanted the pain to go away. My boyfriend, dad and mom suggested me to thoroughly keep washing my eyes BUT NOTHING WORKED. I became so desperate and I was in so much discomfort that my mom decided to take me to a doctor at 8 pm. The doctor however, was not an eye doctor so she could only suggest what may be the problem. So she referred me to an eye specialist at Raffles Hospital for the next day and gave me some normal eye drops to soothe the pain for the night.

So when I woke up in the morning, my eyes felt slightly better but I was still in a lot of discomfort and the tears still kept flowing. When we reached the hospital, my eyes were still swollen and it was so bad that during the eye test (you know the machine where you have to look in to this tiny hole and see a house), I couldn't even keep my eye open. Anyway, so somehow I managed to keep it open for like 2 seconds and the lady managed to do the test and send the reports to the doctor. Now here is the part that I did not expect at all when I went to see the main doctor.

When I told him what I was going through, these are the first few questions he asked me

Doc: What kind of lenses are you wearing
Me: monthly

Doc: When did you start wearing them?
Me: When I was 14

Doc: Do you know how to take care of your lenses
Me: Yeah, just wash my hands, put the lens on my palm, rub it with solution both ways and wear them.

Doc: Ok good, so how long do you wear them for?
Me: Definitely more than 12 hours a day

Doc: *cheeky smile* Do you wear them to sleep
Me: ....Sometimes...when I'm really tired, I forget

Doc: Did the person you buy the lenses from ever told you for how long you are suppose to wear them for each day?
Me: ...Not really

Doc: Why did you buy monthly and not disposables?
Me: So I could wear them everyday

Doc: So you thought monthlies are better because you can wear them everyday and for longer hours?
Me: MEHHH IDK OK I KNOW I ALWAYS MAKE WRONG DECISIONS IN LIFE!!!

Ok so the last part isn't true, but I realized, he asked me all these questions to make me understand that there's so much about lenses that I don't know, more significantly, the proper usage of the lenses. Knowing how to wear them and keeping them clean is one thing, but to know for how long to wear them for, when to wear them and when to remove them is another thing. And then he said this very important sentence.

"People forget that lenses, at the end of the day, is a foreign object. It's not meant to become a part of your body "

After that he went on to take a few more test in his room to check the level of damage I suppose. When he was done, he made me sit down and he went on to tell me what is actually happening to my eyes. And it turns out that....My eyes are showing symptoms of having Cornea Ulcers

You think the name is scary, wait till you hear what happens after you get them. But firstly, my doctor went on to tell me how bad lenses are, because he realized, that unless I don't know how they work, I will never learn from my mistake. So he went on to say:

"Your cornea needs oxygen to function just like any other body parts. When you wear lenses, you block the cornea from getting any oxygen. Your cornea can take that for a certain amount of time but if the lense blocks it for too long, it will start to suffocate and become weak. When it becomes weak, it will cause two things. One, it will distort the clarity of your vision and you will start experiencing blurriness and two, it will destroy the layer that protects bacteria from entering the eyes which will intern start creating ulcers. And once ulcers start to develop, the only treatment that could be done is Cornea Transplant and even after that there would be scars left that would be permanent and you'd have to live on eye drops (I forgot the kind of eye drops he mentioned) for your entire life because someone else's nerves and tissues will be in you body (or something like that) "

I swear, the moment I heard a cornea transplant, I stopped breathing. I mean I expected something like an eye surgery to remove the ulcer, NOT TO GET RID OF MY ENTIRE EYES ITSELF!!! 

At that moment, I swear I was on the verge of tears. I didn't want someone else's eyes with a scar, I wanted my own eyes to remain with me no matter what. At that moment, I was willing to make any sacrifice to not have my eyes removed. 

I shakily asked the doctor, if my eyes can still be treated or is it already too late?

And thank all the Gods in the universe, he said my eyes is still in a pretty early stage and in a treatable state. But...I strictly cannot wear contact lenses for 3 months now in order for my eyes to heal. I guess this is the sacrifice I have to make. Even though a part of me died when I heard that (because I'm so damn conscious to wear my glasses anywhere but home), AT LEAST I STILL HAD MY OWN EYES INTACT.  I don't even care about looking good or not, just hearing that my condition is still early and treatable was like the biggest orgasm to my ear ok, not even kidding.

So for now he gave me anti bacterial eye drops that I had to put once every hour today and tomorrow I have to go back and he'll see my eyes condition again, and start with the next treatment. So I guess bye bye to looking good now without my glasses, but hey, at least the pain and discomfort is totally gone and I can actually see everything again properly. And most importantly, I learnt the importance of taking care of my eyes now and I swear I will never take things like my vision for granted again.

My parents paid 168 bucks to hear this advice from the doc but you guys, if you have read all the way till here, you've gotten it for free of any charge. Please, if you are somebody who is a constant user of contact lenses, do not wear your lenses for more than 6-8 hours a day, DO NOT EVER SLEEP WITH IT and make sure you give your eyes 2 days a week to rest by not wearing any lenses. Trust me, you do not want to go through that kind of pain or the threat of having your own eyes removed and living on someone else's eyes. It's something that is in your control. I had to learn it the hard way and I guess I deserved this because I really was careless with my eyes and lenses handling. SO DON'T BE LIKE ME.

So to answer the question, yeap contact lenses are still a pretty amaze balls invention. I mean come on, when you clean it properly and wear them, it's like you have nothing in your eyes and it makes you feel like you have perfect vision. But as the doctor said, it is still a foreign object. Do not make it a part of your body. Be responsible and do not overuse it for the sake of looking good. Do not compromise you eyes or vision for it.

That is pretty much it for now guys. I really hope my eyes get better soon. On a brighter note, I will be getting a new pair of glasses soon and I guess it'll be fun to try out looks with which glasses will look good. And I guess it'll also be a good break for my eyes as well.

I'll be back soon with a new post soon. Until then, take care guys <3

cyaaaaa