No Glasses for Clay?

Clay had an appointment with his eye surgeon on Tuesday.

The doctor says all looks well. He was able to see Clay's optic nerve which wasn't possible prior to the surgery. That's a good thing because with a view of the optic nerve they can see any problems sooner rather than later. The view looked good and the doctor is very pleased, so of course we are very pleased.

We have been curious to know if and when glasses might be in Clay's future. During the last couple of visits the doctor used various tests to measure Clay's distance vision. As a result of those tests the doctor made comments such as "we are just about at 0." We weren't quite sure what those comments meant at first.

The doctor said he didn't know if after the surgery Clay would be at "plus 10" or "minus 10" but he is pretty close to 0. So I asked "is that good?" He said "yes, that's what we want." In terms of glasses it means that Clay would not benefit from them. He doesn't need them. No, it doesn't mean he has 20/20 sight. As Clay explained it to me, with distance vision you can either magnify or demagnify. In his case being "at 0" means that either would just make his vision larger or smaller but less clear. In other words his distance vision is at its most clear without glasses.

That's for distance. For close work, it could be that the doctor will in the future prescribe some glasses for reading, etc. But it may also be just as practical for Clay to continue using the hand-held magnifiers he carries with him now. It's possible his vision may improve some more, although Clay hasn't reported much change in the last couple months.

We are both happy with where Clay's vision is at. It's definitely better than what he had before the surgery which was declining rapidly. And we are grateful it affords him the prospect of continued independence. As Martha would say, "It's a good thing!"