Well, I guess I jinxed myself because on Thursday my eye was bothering more than ever. It felt like a contact lens was stuck underneath my eyelid and it started getting really red and swollen. I ended up taking out my contacts around lunchtime and when I got home from work I called the eye clinic to make an appointment. They had to call me back since a triage nurse had to speak to me first. I don’t know where this lady was getting her information from since she claimed the doctor back on June 20th dilated my eye. I think I would know if he had! She also asked if I had worn my lenses since the infection. What dilation? What infection? I disputed both these claims and said I just wanted to see someone other than the guy I already saw and that I wanted my eye dilated as well. She gave me a 1 pm appointment for Friday.
The female doctor I saw on Friday was a bit cocky, but very knowledgeable, so I guess she has reason to be that way. She dilated my left eye (and boy, was my vision screwed up after that, so now I know I wasn’t losing it and that guy had not done it before; she confirmed that he did it back in 2007 but that’s hardly recent), but mostly to humor me. She said everything behind the eye and the eye itself looks perfectly fine. Her diagnosis – I’ve developed an allergy to the contact lens cleaner I use (Opti-Free). She said this can happen, and strangely enough, only one eye is typically affected. She said that 8 out of 10 patients who develop an allergy are usually using Opti-Free products. She also said that the eye twitching I’ve had in the past is normal and happens to everyone, and that the pain/pressure behind my eye isn’t really behind it since there are no pain fibers there. She said it’s pain from underneath my eyelid that seems to come from behind the eye, similar to how people having a heart attack will often feel pain in their shoulder.
She instructed me not to wear my contacts for the next ten days and gave me a prescription to clear up the irritation in my eye. I dropped it off at CVS (which was a fun drive because my left eye was blurry and super sensitive to light from the dilation) so that Joe could pick it up on his way home. As I got home, CVS called me to say it wasn’t in stock and they’d have to order it and it would be available on Monday. I asked the girl if she could call around to the other CVS stores in the area to see if they had it in stock and she agreed. It was in stock at one not too much further from us so Joe said he’d pick it up. I was making dinner when he called from that CVS to inform me the prescription was $146 WITH insurance. WTF!?! I called over to the eye clinic and explained the situation and asked whether they could prescribe something else, which they did. I didn’t want Joe to sit around waiting for them to call it in and for CVS to fill it, so I called the CVS and asked them to transfer it to our local one once they got it, to which they agreed. The girl was very nice and even called me later to let me know that she had received it and transferred the request. This medication was only $10 and works the same way. My eye is already feeling better (although not perfect)!
I don’t know why the other doctor didn’t figure this out since he had also asked me what products I use for my contacts and I mentioned the Opti-Free to him. The doctor I saw Friday is a contact lens and eye disease specialist so maybe that’s why she picked up on that whereas the other guy did not. In any case, I will NOT be seeing him again.
It sucks that I can’t wear my glasses until Tuesday the 22d, though, because that means I can’t wear sunglasses. We’re attending an outdoor party this afternoon and it’s super sunny out! Also, I don’t care much for my glasses because they don’t fit as well as my old ugly ass ones, not to mention the prescription is a bit out of date. I don’t get new glasses too often because I usually wear my contacts. I would like to get a new pair of glasses this year but I’m dreading it because a) my head it super small so most frames are too big on me and b) the cost will be out of pocket since I already used the insurance on my contacts.
This whole thing has been such a bummer, but at least the mystery has been solved and I’m on the road to recovery. I have a follow-up appointment on Friday and the doctor said she’ll let me know then what kind of cleaning solution she wants me to use moving forward. Since I have a stockpile of the Opti-Free in the garage it looks like Joe will have to use it. Hopefully he can get through all that and his own stuff before it expires!
