Zennia just posted a Twins story, and since I also had one waiting in the wings to post I decided that I would give everyone a twins week. Enjoy
The Twins That Weren’t:
Myopia – very high myopia, corrected with thick concave lenses in either plastic or metal frames; lenses that make your eyes seem much smaller and sunk well back behind them; lenses which are so strong that they create large amounts of cut in on either side of your face; lenses that show massive amounts of power rings when viewed from a sideways angle. That is what I see whenever I look at pictures of me growing up.
But in actual fact these pictures are not of me. I was born a twin. One of us came out first, and then the second one arrived. I am not sure how the hospital was sure that my sister Meghan was the first one born, but all my life she has laid claim to being the oldest, and my parents back up he claim, so this must be true.
By the time Meghan and I had our first birthday it had been discovered that Meghan was a very nearsighted child, and badly needed to wear glasses. Her first glasses were quite small and were held onto her face with a strap around the back of her head. I actually don’t remember much of this and am just going by what our parents have told us but our parents did save Meghan’s first pair so I can attest to the thick lenses and the strap to hold them to her head. By the time Meghan and I were 2 though I do remember wanting to play with Meghan’s glasses. But Meghan didn’t want to take them off, and if I ever grabbed them from her face our parents would take them away from me and put them back on Meghan. Then I would receive a stern warning that I mustn’t do that.
When Meghan and I were around 3 Meghan got her third pair of glasses. Knowing what I know now about myopia I would suppose that the doctors could not get an accurate reading for her prescription when we were one, and then when we were two I suppose that the doctor’s fine tuned her prescription a little more. I doubt that Meghan became more nearsighted when we were three and I think that by then the doctors were just able to get a much better reading on her prescription. But I don’t really know. I just know that at the age of three I wanted to wear glasses just like Meghan. My parents did buy me a pair of sunglasses to wear but this did not satisfy me. However, when I tried to wear Meghan’s old glasses that she got when we were two I could hardly force my eyes to see through them at all. As a result I was unable to wear them, even though I wanted badly to be able to do so.
If you are twins it spoils everything if one twin is easily distinguished from the other. Neither of us could get away with anything, because mom and dad had no trouble telling us apart. And by the time we started kindergarten I had a much better understanding of just what Meghan could see without her glasses. She couldn’t even see to read the pages of a book, even with the book held almost to the tip of her nose.
Because Meghan was so very nearsighted our parents took us both for eye exams every year. Each year I hoped that this would be the year that I could get glasses, but I could always read the chart down to the line below the line that the doctor told me was 20/20 vision. I was disappointed, but even though I knew that I was better off having perfect vision than Meghan was in needing thick strong glasses I still wanted glasses.
During our years in high school I was able to compete in all the sports. The only thing Meghan was allowed to do for a sport was swimming, and with her swim goggles with their strong prescription strapped to her face she could easily beat me from one end of the pool to the other. However, I was a cheerleader, and I played baseball, soccer and basketball, sports that Meghan couldn’t. Apparently with her high myopia came the risk of a retinal detachment if she bumped her head. Retinal detachments could be fixed in most cases, but there was always a chance that they couldn’t be repaired and she could end up blind in one or both eyes.
As a result, Meghan spent a lot more time on her studies, and her grades in school were always better than mine. I did not envy Meghan for getting better grades, but I was very envious of her for her myopia. By now her strong glasses had become a symbol of something I badly desired - her myopia. On the other hand, Meghan left no doubt in anyone’s mind that she wished that she wasn’t the one with bad eyes, and she often expressed her wishes that she had perfect eyesight like I did.
By the time I was 15, I had spent a fair bit of time on the Internet. My research concluded that there was no definite reason for a person to become myopic, and in the case of identical twins like Meghan and I were, it was rather strange that one twin would be extremely nearsighted while the other twin had perfect eyesight. It was more common for twins to have slightly different prescriptions in each eye, and the twins were then mirror images of each other, whereby one twin would have their right eye a -9D and their left a -7D while the other twin was reversed. That didn’t help me a bit. Meghan got all of the myopia and I got none.
All the research I did on the net didn’t give me much hope that I could ever become as nearsighted as Meghan was. Yes, I probably could have gotten a pair of weak glasses, and I could have likely had stronger and stronger lenses placed into them so that by the time I was 21 or 22 I might have been wearing glasses that were as strong as say -10D. I really couldn’t figure out how I could get it past my parents that I needed glasses at all though. One school of thought was that I should get myself a pair of contact lenses that would change the color of my eyes, and then I could order my colored contacts with a prescription in them. I did try that. When Meghan and I went for our annual eye exams when we were 16 the doctor suggested that Meghan should try to wear contact lenses, and I was able to talk my parents into buying me contact lenses with no prescription that would make my pale blue eyes a much darker blue. I never did order any colored contacts with a prescription in them though. I really didn’t want to wear contacts. I had my heart set on wearing glasses.
Meghan tried to wear her first pair of contacts. She had all the initiative in the world to do so, but the harder she tried to put those 2 little pieces of plastic in her eyes the harder it became. I suppose it was likely due to the fact that she was so nearsighted that she couldn’t see what she was trying to do. On the other hand, I became quite adept in putting in and taking out my colored non prescription lenses and this upset Meghan even more. Finally she gave up after loosing a number of lenses and just decided that it wasn’t worth the aggravation.
Identical twins usually develop a special bond. They seem to be able to almost read each other’s mind because they are so close. But Meghan and I didn’t develop this closeness at all. I suspect that it was because we were identical in appearance except for the glasses but we each had a different temperament. Twins can generally switch their identities so that even their parents can’t tell which twin was to blame for whatever mischief they got into. But Meghan and I were easily differentiated by her strong glasses.
By the time we were graduating from high school our relationship as sisters was more than a little strained. We were both going to the same university and arrangements had been made for us to share an apartment. Our majors were quite different though. Meghan was taking an arts course, and I had gone in for the sciences. Over the summer before we went off to school Meghan’s optician had convinced Meghan to try a new brand of contact lenses that had just come on the market. Now there were a number of brands of soft contacts that were available with a high water content for lower powered prescriptions, but Meghan required contacts that were -14.50D for her right eye and -14.00D for her left, as her glasses were -18.00D and -17.50D. One of the companies that made the high water content lenses for lower prescriptions had recently expanded their product line and had come out with a daily wear monthly replaceable lens that her optician thought might work for Meghan. After trying these new lenses for a week Meghan was in 7th heaven. They fit well, and were very comfortable for her to wear. And, as a bit of a bonus, Meghan seemed to have a better attitude and also seemed to be a little nicer towards me. During all of our 17 years we had almost never had any identical outfits. There just didn’t seem to be any reason for us to dress as twins because it was as simple as the thick lenses in the glasses on Meghan’s face to tell us apart. We did celebrate Meghan’s newfound ability to wear contact lenses by purchasing an identical outfit and it was kind of cool being able to walk down the street with my identical twin sister and not having anyone able to tell which one of us was Meghan or me.
Meghan had gotten a one year supply of contact lenses before we went off to university. I am not sure if she first noticed it, or if I did when I was helping her put everything away in our bathroom. Her contact lenses came in boxes of 3 vials each. There were 4 boxes for each eye, and as we were putting things away one of us noticed that 3 of the boxes had -14.50D written on them, but the 4th box had +14.50D. So we checked the -14D lenses, and we discovered that the same thing had happened. There were 3 boxes of -14.00D lenses and one box of +14.00D ones. Meghan was all for calling her optician and telling her there had been a mistake made. Since I was a science student my brain had started calculating. If a person with a -18.00D glasses prescription needed -14.50D contacts, then a person who had perfect eyes should be able to use +14.50D contacts to see through a -18D lens. And the same should hold true for the -17.50D eye. Theoretically, if I were to place a +14.50D contact in my right eye and a +14.00D contact in my left eye I should be able to see reasonably well with Meghan’s -18.00D and -17.50D glasses.
I explained all this to Meghan. She really wasn’t sure it would work though.
“Hey, if they don’t work all you have to do is tell Joyce that you opened the lenses and then found out they were wrong for your eyes.” I said.
“But what are you going to do with them?” Meghan asked.
“I am going to wear your glasses. I will wear them every waking minute until I get sick and tired of wearing them.” I replied.
“That will likely take about 2 or 3 days.” Meghan replied.
“I don’t think so sis. I have wanted to wear glasses ever since we were about 3 years old. I have envied your glasses for ever.” I told her.
“You are positively sick. I hate wearing them. I can’t wait until I am old enough to have my eyes fixed.” Meghan replied.
“I think they just put the glasses on the wrong twin from the baby factory. I would love to have my eyes fixed so I could wear them all the time.” I answered.
“I’ll bet you that you can’t wear them for a whole week.” Meghan said.
“Let me first see if I can wear them at all. If my theory works, and I can see fairly well through your strong lenses I will take you up on that bet and double it for 2 weeks.” I replied.
“What are we betting for?” Meghan asked.
“Nothing so far, but if I win you have to clean the bathroom for a month.” I told her.
“Gross, but if you can wear my glasses every waking moment for 2 weeks I will do it.” Meghan replied.
Meghan got her glasses out of her bedroom and brought them into the bathroom. I had a little trouble getting the left contact in but finally it was seated and felt comfortable. Then I put the +14.50D one in my right eye and I asked Meghan for her glasses.
“Shit, I didn’t realize that your eyes were this bad.” I said as I slipped her glasses onto my face and brought them up to the bridge of my nose.
“What did you expect - 20/20 without glasses?” Meghan replied sarcastically.
With her glasses in the proper place the blur was gone. Things appeared to be a little smaller through her lenses, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I swung my head and it made me a little dizzy. Looking through the center of the lens was pretty good, but if I tried to move my eyes to the outside of the lens things looked distorted, and the doorway seemed to curve in at the top and bottom. I walked out into the living room and picked up a magazine I had just started reading. I found I needed to bring my face a little closer to the page so that I could see the words but it was certainly easy enough to read. I wished that I had known that I could have worn Meghan’s glasses by wearing plus contacts under them sooner, but I suppose my parents would never have let me try it.
The two weeks went by in a flash. Fortunately Meghan had brought her old glasses along so she would have a spare pair around, because she took her contacts out every night after supper and put her old glasses on. If she hadn’t brought them along we would have had to cancel the bet - and the experiment. After the two weeks were up Meghan admitted defeat, and she had to clean the bathroom for the next month. I went a couple of days without wearing her glasses but now I didn’t feel complete without them. And when I was wearing her glasses I felt very sexually aroused. When I was alone in my bedroom I had to help myself come almost every day. I asked Meghan if she ever felt this way, but she told me that she never did. All she ever felt was that she hated her glasses and couldn’t wait to rid herself of them.
I continued wearing Meghan’s glasses for most of the following month. I had never had any trouble finding a boyfriend before I wore her glasses, and I didn’t seem to have any problem when I was wearing glasses. I had 2 or 3 guys hanging around trying to date me even though I was wearing Meghan’s strong glasses. This upset Meghan a little because she had always used her strong glasses as the reason why she didn’t have any boyfriends and I did. In reality it was because she was much more introverted than I was. I could talk to anyone with ease, while Meghan had a hard time with casual conversation. It could have been her need for strong glasses at an early age that made her this way. I really wasn’t sure, but her strong glasses certainly didn’t create a problem for me.
I could tell that Meghan was upset with how easily I was able to wear her glasses and I was not terribly surprised when she told me that she wanted her glasses back. She would allow me to wear her old glasses, and I tried them a few times but the prescription in those glasses was just a little weaker than her new ones so I didn’t have the crisp clear vision with them as I had with her new ones. I still wanted to wear glasses and I had to come up with a plan. The easiest thing would have been to convince Meghan to order herself a second pair, but she had been acting really strange lately so I was pretty sure that she would not go for this. I had dropped by a couple of optical stores when I was doing GOC and I was pretty sure I could take Meghan’s glasses to one of them on a day when Meghan was in class and order myself a new pair made to the same prescription. But then I found an online company that would supply glasses without a prescription. All I had to do was to order myself a pair using her numbers. I found a pair that appeared to be absolutely identical to the pair that Meghan wore, so I ordered myself a pair. I knew Meghan had the highest index lens that she could get, so I ordered the same index with the good anti-reflective coating. These glasses were not nearly as expensive as the ones daddy had bought for Meghan, but when I got them I really couldn’t tell any difference with my vision.
I was wearing glasses so often that I needed to buy more contacts as well. Again I found an online supplier, but they needed a scan of Meghan’s script. I copied her prescription, changed the minus to a plus, and scanned it so I could attach it to my order. Now I had the glasses as well as a year’s supply of contacts, so I was set for a while.
Meghan and I had been seen around campus wearing glasses enough that everyone thought that we both needed strong glasses. I was wearing mine almost continuously, but Meghan was keeping her glasses wearing to the evenings after class as well as sometimes on a Sunday. I expected Meghan would let my secret slip and that soon everyone would know that I really didn’t need the strong glasses that could be found on my face pretty much every day but even though I knew she really didn’t approve of my doing GOC she didn’t say a word.
Except of course to our parents when we went home for Christmas break. My dad was really upset, and was worried that I was possibly ruining my eyes. I had to show him that I could still read the 20/15 line on the eye chart before he would believe me. They asked me all sorts of questions that I really didn’t think I could answer in a way that people would understand my feelings and desires. In the end I do think my parents did sort of understand what I was trying to tell them, because they ended up giving me a halfhearted approval to continue doing the GOC.
If Meghan thought she was going to get me in trouble it certainly backfired on her. Our parents were not mad at her, but I certainly was and the air around the apartment was rather cold most of the time. I was glad that everything was out in the open, but I was very angry that she had not discussed this with me before she squealed on me. I was so upset with her that I applied for a transfer to a different university, and when it came through I didn’t even say a thing to her until almost the end of the year when she asked me if we were going to share the apartment again the following year. That’s when I told her that I didn’t care what she did, but I was going to another university for the next 3 years. I think that is when she realized just how angry I was with her. If she and I had been real twins through and through she would never have done this to me.
And I did spend the next 3 years obtaining my degree in biological science. My new university was just far enough away from home that I was able to avoid going home much and I managed to obtain a job at the same research lab I had worked at in the summers as soon as the ink was dry on my degree. I had not seen Meghan more than a couple of times since the day we left our parents’ house to go on with our second year at different universities. Mom always wanted to try to tell me what was happening in Meghan’s life, and most of the time I just brushed her off. Mom also kept trying to get me to do my best to patch things up with Meghan but I just told mom that there was nothing to patch up. Yes, we were twins, but we had absolutely nothing in common and no bond between us.
At this point in time I had worn my glasses almost full time for about 3 years straight. I had toyed with the idea of ordering stronger contacts and stronger glasses, but even though I would have loved them I decided that this would not serve any purpose. Even wearing the glasses had not served any purpose. I had originally thought that this might bring Meghan and I closer together, but instead it had driven us apart. I was going out with a pretty decent guy I had met at university who knew that I was doing GOC, and he had understood my reasons for doing it. He told me that he liked me with glasses as much as he liked me without.
Todd and I were married 2 years later. I did not do GOC for the wedding and I suppose most of the guests just figured I was wearing contact lenses for the occasion. Meghan and my parents came to the ceremony, which was just a small one at an outdoor chapel. I don’t think Meghan and I said more than a couple of words to each other.
Todd and I had been married for a little over a year when I heard through my mom that Meghan had gone ahead and gotten her eyes fixed permanently. I knew that this was in the works, because she had never made any bones about how unhappy she was with her thick glasses. So I wasn’t surprised – just disappointed. I had entertained the thoughts of having my own eyes operated on so that I could wear Meghan’s glasses in real life but now the justification for such a move was gone.
I discussed the situation with my husband Todd. He had taken a number of psychology courses in university and he knew that my desire to wear glasses had been rooted in me from an early age. He asked me what I really wanted to do, and I told him that as long as I could continue doing GOC whenever I felt the need for it I saw no reason to do anything permanently to my eyes to allow me to wear my strong glasses all the time.
That was a year ago, and for the past year my colleagues at work have seen me wearing glasses less and less. I probably would have reached a point shortly where I would be glasses free. But now I am about 3 months pregnant. I suppose a pregnant mom would wear contact lenses once in a while, but I am sure that she would wear glasses a lot more frequently. I am not sure if I am rationalizing this because I want to wear my glasses more frequently, but I sort of think that’s it.
The ultrasound showed that there was just one fetus in my tummy. Thank goodness it was not twins because I have seen firsthand what happens when twins are not twins.
Specs4ever March 2013
https://vision-and-spex.com/the-twins-that-weren-t-t502.html