In All Things Give Thanks

This morning, I am thankful for bifocal contact lenses.

I am nearsighted and have been wearing glasses since I was ten years old. When I was in my early years of married life, I started wearing contact lenses. I liked them a lot because they gave me better vision than my glasses. With contact lenses, peripheral vision is just better.

About two years ago, I noticed that I was having trouble quilting while wearing my contact lenses. I had to actually put on magnifiers while wearing my contacts to see the quilt. This seemed redundant to me, so I just began wearing my contacts less. It was easier to just take off my glasses and read and quilt without them. However, my glasses are rimless on the bottom and are easily not seen when one has her glasses off. I'm not nearly as near-sighted as my daughter and husband, but there have been a few times when I couldn't find my glasses in the morning because I'd been reading before bed.

At my most recent eye appointment, I decided to bite the bullet and get bifocals. I wasn't looking forward to this because I don't like picking new glasses. I like the ones I have, but they're three years old, so I do need a new pair of frames. My eye doctor wanted to know why I didn't just get bifocal contacts, seeing as I had been a contact lens wearer for so many years. I was skeptical. How do these things work?

These lenses work with the distance-focus prescriptions for the eye being constructed in concentric circles on the lens. The eye just finds the right place on the lens to focus on depending on what it is looking at. I decided to take a trial pair home.

They are great! I can actually read from the computer screen and then write down in a notebook. A few weeks ago, I would have to "look under" my lenses. Most of the time, I just took my glasses off while I was working at my desk. I can now look at my watch without having to hold it away from my body. I can see my bible in church and the music at the piano and organ is clearer now! Isn't technology wonderful?