Forgive another one of my post-lockdown rambles but its odd. I've worn glasses since I was 12 so sometimes I forget I've actually got eyeballs.
Yet occasionally they do strange things that remind me I do have eyes.
First off, they itch. Its not just a straightforward itch but a deep itch tucked right in the corner past the tear duct! Its a tough job getting in there with a finger but it has to be done as that eye itch stops everything in its tracks. Not sure what causes it in the first place though.
Could be sleep. Not the comatose nightly state but rather the gritty stuff we get in our eyes after it. What my European Missus calls sand as the sandman sends her off. Sleep .. or sand .. is irksome stuff and requires immediate attention too once it starts grating on the iris. Rubbing can cause even more grating and before you know it you're crying huge tears with all that erosion!
Face rubbing brings on another reaction too. It does on me anyway. I assume it started as a kid but when I rub my face, especially with a towel after a shower, I moan and groan as I'm doing it particularly when I rub my eyes! Strange. Eye groaning!
Another peculiarity are the worms. I say worms as I don't know what to call them but they do look like small worms. I'm rambling about those short curly strings of light that flit around in front of you when you go cross-eyed in sunlight. When you stare into your own iris. I've never known what this eye fauna is. I assume its light rather than life.
School friends used to play tricks with their eyes. Some could pull the upper eye lid down so it looked like an alien and some could roll their eyes so far back that they were white like a shark's death stare! Tricks like these were usually followed by inhuman finger stretching and tongue curling. I watched them all as I couldn't do anything except groan when I rubbed my face with a towel!
Nowadays the only notable thing about my vision is the lack of it and its stablemate, hearing, is hanging up its boots slowly too, much to the annoyance of my Missus, who has to repeat things twice!
Being a glasses wearer since the Seventies, I've seen my whole teenage and adult life through shaped plastic and often wonder it what I saw was what everyone saw! Glasses could be part of a conspiracy to undermine parts of society!
The thought of contact lenses wandering off up inside my cranium put me off them years ago and similarly a laser technician with a twitchy hand dissuaded me from pupil shaving too.
Nope. I'll stick with glasses and attend to the various itches, worms and groans my eyes require just as they are.
Have you any eyeball quirks?
I've had short sight since my teens. As it can be caused by lenses in the eye being too 'strong', as I'm getting older, my sight is starting to correct itself and my prescription is getting weaker!
ReplyDeleteha ha, your'e improving with age Kev! Like cheese!
DeleteI sat watching eye worms drift past the other day, trying to get a good look at them it used to bother the hell out if me as a kid, as I thought it was something wrong. Years later I deduced that it must be dust and dead skin cells on the durface of the eye and floating about in the aqueus humor in front of the lens.
ReplyDeleteDust and dead skin! Sounds like the tile of a novel Wote! I love that line 'I sat watching eye worms"! ha ha. We're you bored?
DeleteI am short sighted, and have been wearing glasses since I was 17 (1978). It would be suicide to try crossing the road without them.
ReplyDeleteThe worms in your eyes might be the blood vessels, visible when the optician shines a bright light in your eyes.
Rather than rubbing your face with a towel, try dabbing with the towel to soak up the water, this will mean less friction, and less risk of damage.
Dust and other irritants can collect in your eyelashes and on the surface of the eyes, especially if you work somewhere very dusty, as I do. My optician recommended cleaning with baby shampoo, which is designed not to irritate the eyes. Yes, I thought this advice was nuts too, when I was first told to do it. Use warm (not hot) water and only a little shampoo, to gently clean the eyelashes and lids. It can be done morning and night. My optician recommended Johnson's Baby Shampoo by Johnson and Johnson. You will find this in the baby care section of your supermarket, rather than with the adult shampoos in the hair care section. This may not fix your problem, but it should help.
Shining lights in eyes is another matter Paul and when you have an eye test here they puff cold air into them as well. No matter how hard I try I always jump in my seat! Sorry you work in a dusty place. Do you get issued with a mask? We have baby products here in the bathroom for our grandkids. I'll have a look. Thanks.
DeleteThese worms are called Floaters and are mostly dead cells, moving about through the aqueous fluid inside your eyes, that have come away from the lining of the eyeballs.
ReplyDeleteWe all have them, but some have more than others, like dandruff.
Mish.
Floaters? Really? That means something less savoury to me, which involves swimming pools a la the movie Caddyshack! Thanks for ID'ing the eyeball worms though Mish, its been bugging me for years and these comments here have helped make sense of it. Ta!
DeleteCold air - I have never had that, I am glad to report. I do not think I would like that - is this something new, or has it been around a while ? It is a case of look up, and they add a yellow/orange dye to the eye during an exam.
ReplyDeleteNo mask at work. There is not a lot of dust floating about in the air, but if stock has been up in the storage racks for months on end, or has come in from a storage warehouse, it can be pretty dusty when you open up the boxes.
What! They add a dye to your eye during an eye exam? Do you mean an eye test at an opticians Paul? Sounds drastic!
DeleteYes, an eye test/exam at the optician. A coloured dye is added, just one or two drops. This is done before they photograph the eye, or look at it while shinning a bright light in to it. This is normal here, at least it has been for me. Is this not done in Britain ? Why are eye exams different in Britain and NZ ? Surely eyeballs are the same everywhere ?
ReplyDeleteI think I'd refuse dye in my eye Paul. It's too close for comfort and sounds like an operation!
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