I’m 59 years old and I am going to list more or less in order the biggest mistakes I made regarding my vision going all the way back to the 60’s in grade school. First in grade school about 3rd grade I began complaining of headaches after reading and my Mom said maybe we should get your eyes checked. When I finally did get an eye exam at age 22ish I was Myopic with Astigmatism. I should have pushed the eye exam more as I learned much later the Astigmatism could have very well had something to do with the headaches. I’ve always enjoyed reading but didn’t read a lot then due to the headaches. I said every year I was going to “throw” the school vision screening but never did. At the vision screening in the 6th grade I couldn’t see which way the last E pointed so I guessed. Another mistake as I should have just said I can’t see the last one and would have been sent for additional testing but it still wasn’t all that cool to wear glasses in the 70’s. In 73 between 7th and 8th grade I finally got the nerve up to tell my Mom I thought I needed glasses. My Mom said she would get me an eye exam after a brief camping trip we had coming up. The problem was that summer we had 2 very serious illnesses in the family and they would both pass away by October so the eye exam was forgotten. I should have asked after the last funeral now can I get the eye exam I think I need but I didn’t. In the 8th grade we had a vision screening where we read the letters and I had real trouble with the last line or 2 and thought sure I was going to be sent for further testing. Instead they told me to take my time and I must have read enough to not get sent for testing. I should have stuck with not being able to see the letters and I would have been sent for testing. No screening took place in the 9th grade which was still at the junior high back then. During my sophomore year which then was the first year of high school I was selected for Drivers Education by age for the first semester. I thought sure I would fail the DMV vision screening but I passed barely. January came and with good grades in both the in car and classroom parts of Drivers Education I did not have to take an in car test and again thinking I would probably fail the eye exam but I passed with my right eye which means you are restricted to an outside rear view mirror. My Mom who took me said maybe we should get your eyes checked but later decided the machine was wrong. I should have said yes I almost failed the drivers license exam so I need my eyes checked. With no night driving practice required in 76 I was told by my Mom the first time I drove at night your eyes are so good you won’t have any problems. I should have said really, do you remember when I almost failed the vision screening an the DMV? I should have asked for an eye exam. In about another year I missed a golden chance as my Dad finally agreed to get an eye exam after being unable to read measurements at work. I should have said (at this time I was still in high school) how about getting me one too? When I finally scrounged up enough money for an eye exam and glasses in 82 I did 2 things wrong. First being that young I should have asked my parents for help with the idea of getting better glasses. The exam was fine but the glasses were cheap. Second when I did get my glasses I should have admitted it to family and friends but the only time I ever admitted having glasses then has been on this site. No friends or family knew back then and I now realize that was dumb. In 86 when I finally did get glasses I listened to my Mom about not wearing them too much. My Mom believed (later proven wrong) that wearing glasses too much makes your eyes worse. I should have just said I’m going to wear my glasses all the time but with my Dad terminally ill at the time. This is the other thing I’ve never told anybody until now. In 87 or 88 I scrounged up the money to try contacts which I had forgotten about until I found the cases recently. I took the exam and training at the Doctors office and got contacts in and left driving home with them. I could stand wearing them fine but after I took them out I never could get the contacts back in so I only wore them once. In 90 when I had more money I got my eye exam and as expected my prescription had changed because due to finances I had gone 4 year with the same glasses. I got 2 pair including on prescription sunglasses from Lens Crafters and again still living with my Mom I should have said I’m wearing them all the time. I did start wearing my glasses some around the house which my Mom didn’t think was a good idea but I said I wanted to see the TV clearly. By 95 or 96 I was wearing my glasses all the time going into progressive in my late 30’s. In 2000 I made the biggest and by far the costliest mistake ($4000) I’ve ever made in my life not just with glasses. At age 40 going on 41 I must have been having a mid life crisis and began thinking about Lasik. On November 21st 2000 I had Lasik and I thought it was great. I was an planned 20/20 R and 20/30 L with the left eye being put slightly Myopic for reading and up close. I soon discovered surgically corrected eyes did not see as good as I did with glasses especially driving at night. I went on without wearing glasses and about 2008 my Dr. who due to extensive training in Lasik follow up I was switched to in the same practice I had been going to since the mid 90’s. In 2008 the Dr. starting telling me I needed glasses for night driving. Again I put off getting glasses this time for a year and wore them more then I was supposed to. I never liked having my eyes with different vision after Lasik. I worked at the time for a Courier service and needing to read I just got progressive after having lined bifocals briefly and wore them all the time at work but not at home or around family of friends. When driving at night by myself I wore glasses but not when somebody was with me. My Mom passed way in August of 2010. As I was getting dressed for the funeral in the dress slacks and polo shirt (my Mom would not have wanted me wearing a suit knowing what I think of them) I put my glasses on and thought about wearing them to the service but chickened out. Some of my family in the time after the funeral saw me with glasses so in 2013 I decided to wear them around friends that I had not been doing. I went to a high school basketball game and my friend asked what are you doing back in glasses? I explained that Lasik sometimes goes bad and you have rode with me enough at night to know I need glasses at least for night driving. Note out of 4 people who had Lasik (myself included) around the same time I did as of 2018 are all back in glasses. At my regular eye exam later that year my Dr. told me I could now wear glasses all the time which I was pretty much doing anyway. The good part of wearing glasses all the time as the Dr. advised I didn’t have to worry about running into him around town like I did before.
https://vision-and-spex.com/my-biggest-vision-and-eyesight-mistakes-t1304.html