On this site, I’ve had a lot to say about monocular vision and how to cope with it. I’ve also had some to say about my own journey, including watching one of my eyes, which had a congenital defect, fall apart as I grew older. It was a stressful time in my life watching that eye go bad, especially because there was initially a lot of pain. My eye pressure shot up and I had to go on a cocktail of medications to keep the pressure from throbbing.
The last few years, both of my eyes have been relatively stable.
My good eye is doing good. I have a few floaters that come naturally with age, but my vision in that eye is as good as it ever will be. I protect it by wearing polycarbonate lenses, and I wear polycarbonate sunglasses in the sun to protect my good eye from sunlight.
My bad eye is … well, bad, but not entirely. On the downside, it is completely dilated and has a cataract. I wear a prosthetic contact that, while not perfect, is as good as it gets short of removing the eye and getting a prosthetic eye entirely. The contacts are expensive and require some hassle and care, but it’s my real eye so there’s that. I see my doctor every year and the consensus remains that I should only remove the eye if it gets painful.
On the upside, it’s not painful and, other than its appearance, it requires no maintenance on its own. I had high eye pressure for a while after the eye went bad, but the pressure went down. I haven’t needed pressure controlling eyedrops for a few years now, and for that I’m thankful, since it’s not easy to apply eyedrops when you can’t see out of an eye.
And, really, that’s what I’m thankful for in the moment: a stable medical situation. I’m thankful that my good eye is good, and that I can see well enough out of it to drive and otherwise live a normal life. I’m also thankful that my bad eye is not in pain and does not appear to have changed in a few years now.
I know it won’t last forever. As I age, my good eye will age with me. It’s possible I could end up having any one of the number of eye issues that even people with two good eyes eventually have. It’s also possible that my bad eye could deteriorate further, to the point where I have to have it removed and replaced with a full prosthetic eye.
I know I can’t control any of that, so I try not to think on it too much, except to have conversations with my doctor about the what ifs. In the meantime, I’m thankful for appointments that say “nothing’s changed.” Because my eyes aren’t perfect, but a stable-but-manageable situation is a good situation for me right now.