Yes, No, Maybe

I had a consultation with a Neuro-ophthalmologist last November. There was little likelihood of prism lenses solving my loss of field of view. He also diagnosed my slightly blurry remaining vision as monocular diplopia. I have slight double vision even with one eye closed, due to a slight “ghosting” effect on everything I look at (a mostly transparent duplicate image slightly shifted to one side). This makes everything I see very “unsharp”. It’s not out of focus, just not crisp and clear. He suspected that this was caused by eye problems, not brain issues, and referred me to a specialist optometrist.

After 2 hours of testing, using all but one item of test equipment in his rooms, he suspected that the cause was distortion of my corneas. In severe forms this is called keratoconus, but my distortion was mild. This is usually regraded as a condition affecting young people, coming on in the teens-20s and getting progressively worse as time goes on. I’d had no vision issues (apart from needing reading glasses) until I copped this at age 58!. It also seems to be very unusual to have the same distortion in both eyes at once.

Interestingly, in standard eye tests I still have 20/20 vision, it just takes some time to focus on the individual letters and work out what's what.

The usual corrective option is small semi-rigid contact lenses that only cover the cornea. Corneal distortion can't be corrected by normal glasses and any surgical option is too risky. I got checked out for lenses, which was a tedious and somewhat painful process. I received a couple of prescription contacts a couple of weeks later, colour coded for left and right eyes. I had to wear them for a few weeks as adjusting to them can be a slow process. Putting them in and taking them out was an awkward process and I couldn’t have managed to do it without having my wife to guide me (“down a bit, up a bit, towards your nose a bit”, etc).

Unfortunately, after a few weeks of adjusting to the lenses, they had produced no improvement in my vision (and made things a bit blurrier at times), so we abandoned that approach. We now think that my double vision IS due to the brain damage at the haemorrhage site, it's just an unusual outcome. My eyes are fine and well aligned. I have 20/20 vision when I concentrate to ignore the double vision. He suspects that I've always had mild keratoconus/corneal bulging, but it wasn't bad enough to affect my vision. I'll just have to carry on with the dodgy vision and learn to adjust. I'll go back to him in a year to do another corneal profile and make sure there has been no progression. It’s unlikely at my age but I’ve had enough medical dramas in my life, so I’d like to be sure I’m not in line for another one. I’ll also follow up any further possible causes of the diplopia.

Two milestones for me are approaching. I’m turning 60 in mid-April. Since I’m no longer working, I qualify for a Seniors card and this is doing my kids heads in! Also, 2 days after my birthday my drivers licence expires. Due to my vision problems, I can’t renew it, even to keep it as a useful form of ID. I’ve had my licence for 42 years and it’s going to be sad to see it go. I’ve applied for a Keypass ID card, but it will be interesting to see how widely accepted this is when I need to prove my ID. There are various options for alternatives to a drivers licence, some state based.

I’m going to schedule that walk around the Ted Errey circuit in the Brisbane Ranges NP soon. I’ll just have to watch where I put my feet!