I developed
myopia very early, when I was only three years old. I didn't get it from reading
books, or watching
TV, or playing
computer games. It was purely
genetic. My entire
family was cursed with extreme
myopia, including my
sisters, my
parents, my
cousins, my
grandparents. My
eyesight deteriorated rapidly when I was still in
kindergarden. I still have brief memories of the days when I could see without
glasses. Since then, my
eyes began to fail.
When I was in primary school, my eyesight deteriorated at such a rapid rate I required a new pair of lenses every 6 months. By the time it stabilized (around 3 years ago), I was practically blind. My eyesight was at -9.00 and -9.75, left and right, with severe astigmatism. At 1 meter, my vision was reduced to a foggy blur. Past 3 meters, I cannot make out the edges of surfaces. Without correction, my view of the world was pretty much a mess of blurry movements. Pretty horrible, but I managed to cope.
Before the age of ultra-thin lenses, my glasses were thick and heavy. At one point, I had to wear a pair of telescoping lenses around my neck to read signs. The glasses weighed my head down, literally. Even though it didn't prevent me from participating in sports, it did make it impossible for me to play contact sports. Groping around the field for my glasses, which were likely to be broken, convinced me to quit. Contacts were not a solution. Every time I see a 12 year-old teeny bopper get contacts at the optometrist I sigh at the ignorance of the parents. At that age, the eyeball is still developing and shaping, getting contacts ruin the physical development of the eyeball. But hey, with the advertising campaign the corporations are throwing, neglecting the dangers of contacts at that age, nobody cares. Looks are important, right? But at what cost?
I learned to live with this disability. However, in the fickle mentality of adolescents, I was mercilessly teased and made fun of by brutish bullies, the "in" crowd, and other human filth. Nerd, geek, chink, four eyes, one inch glasses, I've heard them all. They never bothered to stop and think, "Is it OK to laugh at a disabled person?" I don't see them making fun of the quadraplegic in the wheelchair. Or the jock with the broken leg. The cruelty of these people is beyond description. I grew insensitive to their taunts quickly. Once in a while, some people who step over the line receive a broken nose, courtesy of my fist. Those people usually never called me names again.
I got contacts last year. Due to my extreme level of myopia, they are still being tweaked. I am seriously considering the LASIK treatment, but I decided to wait a bit before taking the plunge, since I hear the side effects increase as your eyes get worse. Maybe one day, I'll be able to see clearly without correction. Would I look different to those shallow people, who taunt me because I wear thick glasses? Hopefully not. Adults are supposed to be somewhat more mature than high school brats.