Life without contact lenses …

I have been wearing glasses since I was 4.
When I was in high school my eyes actually started to improve and I only had to wear glasses when I read, drove or was in school. That didn’t last long.
In my early to mid-20s I decided to try contacts for the first time. I wore them for a couple of years. Between not having a great eye doctor and not taking care of my contacts appropriately I gave up on them after about two years and went back to glasses.
In my early 30s I started regularly exercising and practicing yoga. I found glasses to be in the way with cardio while sweating and they would fog up and whenever I needed to towel my face those dang glasses were in the way. In yoga they move around and make it difficult to see. Removing my glasses doesn’t help because I actually need them to see.
At this point I started with a new eye doctor in my old Rockridge neighborhood. (If any of my readers in the Bay Area and are looking for an eye doctor, I recommend Dr. Yokoi at Rockridge Optometry.)
Dr. Yokoi thought I was a good candidate for gas permeable (hard contacts). It took a few months, but we got the right fit. And for about seven years I have been wearing them.
Dr. Yokoi told me that the life expectancy of hard contacts is about two years or so. (Soft contacts are cheaper initially but last a much shorter time period.)
My last pair of hard contacts lasted somewhere around six years … which is way longer than most people will ever do. Apparently I take very good care of them.
Well, my lengthy life of contacts ended on Sunday … when I accidentally broke one of them.
It broke on a sunny Sunday in Portland. Of course.
I thought my biggest issue in the temporary (until I got an appointment with a new eye doctor and new contacts) was sunglasses.
Nope, it’s trying to teach (and take) indoor cycling with the sweat, foggy glasses and the microphone and glasses battling it out.
In the meantime, it really is just a minor inconvenience. But I didn’t realize how much I relied on them until they were gone.
I lucked out and got an appointment with my new eye doctor (who I already think is great) on Wednesday.
She felt gas permeable was still a good way to go. She ordered me new contacts with a new prescription, which should be in next week.
The best news … she told me she could give me a temporary soft contact for my right eye and still wear my left hard contact until my new contacts come in.
So far so good. So much easier to teach and take cycle and teach and practice yoga.