Eyes

Since I was down to my last two pairs of contact lenses, I was forced to endure the yearly eye exam today before they would let me buy any more. Every time I go, they've come up with a new test. Glaucoma-puff-of-air-in-your-eye test, measure your peripheral vision test, measure your retina test, and the blinding flash of light in your eye to take a picture of your cornea test. The good news is my prescription hasn't really changed in the last few years. The bad news is I'm still nearly blind.

"Have you considered Lasik eye surgery?" asked the doctor and the technicians.
"You guys ask me this every year," I replied. "I'm too chicken."
"Ah, well it's ok to be chicken," affirmed the very young girl technician.

"You have some ingrown eyelashes that are sticking into your eye," the doctor informed me.
Ahhh, the curse of being Asian and having stick straight lashes that poke into your eyeball.
"I can remove them for you, if you like," she offered.
Why not, I thought. It hurts like hell when I try to do it.
"Is this a common problem?" I inquired.
"Well... with kids," she replied.
Sigh...
"Your contact lenses are protecting your cornea from being scratched by your lashes. Maybe you might not want Lasik after all," she said.
"Of course, if you do opt for the surgery, there's also a really good doctor on that staff that can do the eyefold surgery for you and pull up those lashes," she added.
"EEK! That's way more surgery than I'd ever want. No thank you!" said Chicken Girl.

I wonder if we'll go through this whole drill again next year. I've only been going to this place since I was oh... sixteen!