There are many things that we all take for granted, even though we don't consciously mean to. The ability to walk around, the ability to hear... the ability to see. Especially as photographers, the ability to see.

Last week I noticed that I was having a problem reading text out of my right eye. It was like there was an opaque layer over the lens, though I could still see large objects clearly enough. I made an appointment with my optometrist for Wednesday afternoon, and left work early after working through lunch (the relevance of this will become apparent). She went through a whole series of tests and thought that there was some blood inside the right eyeball, but couldn't be sure. She therefore referred me to an ophthalmic surgeon for 11:00 today.

I notified my manager and my assistant about what was going on via e-mail. My assistant was very concerned and solicitous. My manager... I heard not one freaking thing from aside from the fact that he moved a meeting for next week to suit himself and he got one of his project managers to ask me for some bullet points for an internal newsletter that he wants to publish. Yeah, I'm bleeding into my eyeball. OK, do bullet points for this newsletter for me and change your schedule so it fits better with mine. Remind me again why I'm working for a company like this, much less working through lunch so that I can leave early?

A summary of the ophthalmic surgeon visit: Puts dilation eyedrops that feel like Draino into my eyes, tests, evaluation... Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion (BRVO). In short, the place where my veins join together in the retina has popped and is seeping blood, which is why the vision in my right eye is screwed. Not her specialty but she can refer me to another colleague down the street. That'll be $420 (a little of which I'll get back from insurance).

At this point I had no contact lenses in (I wear disposables) but hey, it's just down the street, right? I have enough vision even without my contacts to do that! Normally. Except that my eyes are still dilated to hell, the day was intense with glare, and so pretty soon I can barely see anything and think that maybe trying to cross city streets may not be the best of all possible ideas. I pop one of my spare disposables into the left eye to at least let me see where I'm going.

Second surgeon, a retinal specialist: I have to fill out a form with almost the same information as the first place except that I have NOTHING in the way of close range vision after the first round of tests, so I'm trying to fill the damn thing out with the clipboard shoved up to my nose. More dilation drops, which also feel like Drano. More tests, including one that was like looking into an atomic bomb detonation without glasses. "Things might look a bit pink for a while", says the assistant who performed the test. Yeah, no kidding. If you turn off the blue and green channels in Photoshop, that's how I was seeing the world for the next 10 minutes. He confirms the diagnosis and tells me that he has several people who are there being treated for the same thing so it's not a rarity. (Wikipedia describes BRVO as a disease of the elderly (60's -70's) but that wasn't the demographic that I was seeing. When I could actually see. Or me for that matter.)

In 1/3rd of people it'll clear up of its own accord. In 1/3rd of people it'll never clear up. The recommended treatment is injections of a medication into the eyeball, once a month for up to 2 years. Each injection costs $705. Plus consulting fee and tests, closer to $860. EACH injection. Of which you get a bit under $300 back from Medicare. Which I wouldn't care (as much) about had the reports that I've found about the treatment been uniformly positive, but they haven't been. On the other hand if you leave it in the hope that it'll self-heal and it doesn't, you're screwed. That'll be $450 for today's consult, please, a little of which I'll get back on insurance.

If you have extra weight, lose it. If your blood pressure is even moderately high, get it down. And do not go a year without having your eyes checked.

Do not follow in my footsteps, because trust me, your photography (amongst other things) will not benefit from it.

Mmm. There have been better days.

But back to the key subject; hear me well when I say, do not take your eyesight for granted.

Last Year