Friday 15 January 2010

Your good ocular health!

I had my two-yearly eye test today. As I suspected, stronger glasses are called for, but otherwise my ocular health is good.

Near-sightedness came upon me quickly. They tell you that your eyesight will deteriorate with age, what they don't tell you is that you will go half-blind on your 40th birthday. I'm joking/exaggerating, of course, before anyone under 40 reading this blog (who are you?! I'd like to shake your hand!) starts to panic. But, anyway, it is true that near-sightedness or presbyopia - meaning 'old eye'! - sets in between age 40-50.

Go and get your eyes tested (about £20) as soon as possible when it does - you will know, because you won't be able to focus on near objects so easily and will need to go cross-eyed to read! The optician can sort you out with a nice pair of reading glasses - oh, go on, it's not that bad!

They do all sorts of other tests of your ocular health - which can also be a guide to your general health.

Today, inevitably for an extra £10 fee, I had retinal photographs done. It is quite alarming seeing a big colour photo of the inside of your eye, including optic nerve, blood vessels, macula, retina. They all look so vulnerable! And so they are - look after them!

Seeing them like that reminded me how I should be eating green, leafy vegetables to help avoid age-related macular degeneration, and that I haven't consumed enough lately. Spinach, anyone?

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