Care for your eyes!

Couple of weeks back I realized that I needed to replace my contact lenses.Luckily my insurance covers the cost of an eye exam and the contacts.Back home in India,its a relatively cheap bargain.You can get a 'once a year replace' lenses for about 1200 rs( $27).The eye exam is generally a freebie if you order new contacts or spectacles.However here in the US of A,the eye exam turned out to be a long winded elaborative procedure.I walked into a local 'Lenscrafter' and got an appointment for the following week.

On my scheduled day I arrived at the Doctor's office which was right inside the Lenscrafter showroom.I had to wait quite a bit and I was somewhat in a quandry as to what could be taking so long.When my turn came I was motioned to a room with number of monitors and a huge screen which was to be used for "opto scan"-the latest technology which enables the doctor to look at a scan of the complete eye ball including the back of the eye and adjoining blood vessels.Pretty impressive i thought.But before I could peer into the scanner,I was administered some more tests-the rudimentary reading test then some test which seemed to measure how the eyes blink to flashes...atleast that's what I made of it. The opto scan was simple..all I had to do was peer into a round hole one eye at a time and bingo its done.

Next stop was into the doctor's room and I sat in the high chair with all the measuring instruments around me.The doctor came in after some minutes...a good natured grey haired guy.He showed me the opto scan results and said it was in excellent shape so no worries.He then did a few more tests asking me to read from a box with different numbered lenses.Then he proceeded to tell me that I would need lenses with a small astigmatism correction. I made the mistake of asking him what astigmatism means in layman terms. The good doctor gave me a verbatim lecture on the basics of astigmatism.He even opened an old dusty book and used a plastic eyeball for example.Then he looked at his watch and remarked "see you got me going on a pet topic"!.

Next I was handed a pair of trial lenses and asked to take a follow-up appointment in a week's time to see how I was doing with the lenses.

I turned up after a week and reported excellent results.I was told my vision was now enhanced better than 20/20!.The eye exam cost $157 and a year's supply of lenses cost a whopping $340!.Needless to say I immediately sent off my claim to my health insurance company.While I was surely impressed by the detailed care and tests I really wonder how a person without vision benefits can even afford lenses for the total bill comes to about $500!!...that already blurs my vision a bit albeit my new lenses.My only grudge-I forgot to ask the good doctor what he thought of "x-ray" vision...I will leave that thought till my next eye-care appointment.