Age and decrepitude

The final chapter… the nail in the coffin…. the slow, inexorable decline into oblivion: I’m there. I went to the optometrist today and, horror of horrors, I need bifocals.

Naturally, since I’m a geek, I can’t just get ordinary bifocals and be done with it. No, I’m getting progressive lenses, and even then that isn’t good enough. To satisfy my cravings for technical superiority, I’m getting wavefront technology progressive lenses by Hoya. What this basically means is that the distortions traditionally associated with progressive lenses are reduced by a much more complicated lens.

None of this diminishes the fact that my eyes have betrayed me yet again. I can expect continuing degradation in my vision for at least another decade before my vision “stabilizes”. There are no signs of glaucoma or other more severe issues so really this is just a bit of trivia directly related to my advancing middle age.

This isn’t any kind of real surprise to me: my eyes have been getting progressively worse since I turned about 30. But there is something rather depressing about hearing the word “bifocal” in conjunction with my own vision. Next on my list: a cane, so I can wave it at the kids as I shout at them to get off my lawn.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.