About a week before my surgery, all the way back at the beginning of July, my right eye got cloudy. Being a contact wearer for about 18 years now, I figured they were old and I needed to change it out. So I did. It remained the same state. So I quickly called the eye Dr. to get in and have them take a quick look before my surgery so I wasn't living with it for months, figured they would adjust my prescription, and send me off with a new contact. After checking my vision, they couldn't correct it with the whole "better or worse" system and decided to run a few scans on it. They checked my peripheral, the shape, the retina, etc. and nothing. I could barely make out the second line, the one just below the big fat "E", on the chart and so my prescription remained -4.0 in my right eye. (My left eye is normal at -5.75 or so, and I see fine with correction.) I left the office with no answers; however, they did give me a bit of advice, "After surgery, wear glasses for a bit and see if it gets any better. It will either get better or worse over time." So I did just that. I wore my glasses for several days, no change, but I could care less since my worries were somewhere else.
Skip ahead 3 months to October, and my regular eye exam. "Is it better, or worse, or the same?" I replied, "It's still blurry." Performing another eye exam, they could still only correct my vision to the same point. He said it had actually gotten a little worse and to stop wearing my contacts. He ran more tests, and nothing. He briefly mentions MS, but says he shouldn't have said anything. So I stopped wearing my contacts and he asked to see me back in two weeks to see what that would do.
Two weeks later. My eye doctor has been consulting with a retina specialist, who is also his friend. He said they have talked several times at length about me and are puzzled. They have never seen ANYTHING like this. So I inquire what EXACTLY is going on. At this visit, he says, "When I give you the exam," (the whole better or worse test) "your eye is now -1.25! IT HAS SELF-CORRECTED!" Your first reaction is to probably say, "Wow, that's amazing. That's a good thing right?" Because that is the one and only response I've gotten when I tell people. However, an eye doesn't just self-correct. And it doesn't do it to that degree. His explanation, along with the retina specialist, "Something has to be pushing on the optic nerve in order for this happen." He again, briefly mentions MS, but again, says it's not likely. Since wearing glasses, they can correct it to 20/25. So I can see now.
Two weeks later. I have now seen the retina specialist. He has examined me, and nothing. Dr. Hampton, my doctor, and Dr. Luu, the retina specialist, feel I should have a CT of my orbits, just to make sure there isn't a tumor - which they feel they would have seen with total dilation. But just to be sure. I'm sitting in the waiting room for my CT and a tech comes out to find out what is going on. She says she needs to talk to her radiologist before they take me back. A few minutes later she returns to tell me that, "The radiologist has NEVER seen anything like this and he really feels that I need an MRI to get a more complete picture." Of course, this has to be reordered by the Dr. Back a few weeks ago, they also got my medical doctor involved, and he is the one that ordered the CT. Yesterday, the MRI was scheduled, I spoke to my medical doctor, I spoke to my eye doctor, and i spoke to the radiologist. All of whom are saying do not worry, but to continue to pursue an answer.
I have googled it, I have asked every doctor that I come in contact with if they have EVER seen this. No. So I decided to blog about it and ask anyone reading, "Have you ever heard of self-corrected vision?"
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oh my gosh! My eyesight actually self-corrected. I wore glasses and contacts for about 6 years - starting in law school and for a few years after. Before that, I'd always had 20/20 vision. About 4 years ago, my vision self-corrected - I no longer wear glasses or contacts. My eye doctor had never seen anything like it before, but he never said anything to make me worry. My hypothesis is that I was reading a lot of fine print, and staring at computer screens A LOT during that time - which I think is what led to my eyesight's decline to begin with (I had blurry vision with distance, but could see clearly up close). A year or two before my eyesight self-corrected I started getting into cycling A LOT, which required me to be staring about 100 yards down the road for hours a day - rather than 2 feet in front of me. I also was working a little bit less - so staring at computers a little less. I think my eyes just got used to focusing on things in the distance rather than up close and got stronger. I was thrilled, because I'd always been sad that law school had hurt my vision. I was also happy because it was like i had lasik but it was free! :) Anyway, that's just my one experience - but I hope yours is nothing and just a random cool event. :)
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