I have been wearing contact lenses for a long time. They are great. I don’t feel embarrassed wearing them as I do with my prescription glasses, they are hygienic and safe. I fell asleep wearing them by accident, had more than one panic moment when swimming where I thought that they got washed out and I had no spare, they got knocked out by accident during training. But they never ever disappeared without a trace while I was wearing them.
I am sure you have experienced a moment when your eye needed a rub and you felt pretty amazing after succumbing to the urge. This trivial moment gets complicated when you are wearing a piece of plastic on top of your eyeball. It usually ends up with me trying to reposition the lens back to where it belongs and not somewhere else i.e. under your eyelid. This time it was different. My little silicon friend did not come back from the trip upstate.
My attempt to figure out where it went ended nowhere. Like most people, I consulted Dr Google to find a solution that did not involve a visit to a doctor. I guess my worst fear was that I will end up with a contact lens floating inside of my head for eternity. I learnt two things that day. Firstly it is physically impossible for it to happen as if our body prepared for human creativity by making it idiot-proof. Secondly, Dr Google is not an actual doctor and not everything on the internet can be trusted.
Slightly less concerned I went to bed expecting that my body will fix the issue without my intervention. An early morning inspection proved me wrong. Not knowing what else to do I took the best course of action. I made myself a cup of coffee and went to work. Thanks to the office chats, I learnt that there was this person who had 27 stowed-away contacts in their eye that had to be surgically removed.
This made me reconsider my choices and I booked an ophthalmologist appointment the same day. This is where the glass gets half full. They managed to squeeze me in to see a doctor even though they were booked out. The doctor was more than sympathetic and tried everything they could to help. They apologised for the wait even though that was not their fault in the slightest. And I did not have to pay a cent for having this looked at.
Unfortunately, we did not find the stray lens. It is a mystery if we parted ways during the rub or while I was asleep. Apparently, in some cases, those things stay in a bit longer hence I may be carrying a spare that will be of use one day. Seeing the doctor served its purpose however irrespective of the outcome.
Sometimes we need someone who is more knowledgeable to tell us that it is going to be ok. Show a bit of extra care and warmth when we don’t expect it. We are lucky to have those people around. We are privileged to be that person for someone else who’s having a bad day.