New Contacts!

Eyes wide open with his new contacts!

Tom got a new set of contacts put in today and it went really well. It was not our usual doctor so I was a bit nervous. He didn't even have to use a lid speculum to hold the eye open; he was able to just pop it in. Usually we see a pediatric ophthalmologist (a medical doctor), but today we saw Dr. Luchansky, who is an optometrist (not a medical doctor but they go to college and then a school of optometry.)

He didn't need to examine Tom's retinas so he just popped the contacts right in. I was so relieved! When we have have someone other than our usual doctor work with Tom it has been something of a struggle. That was not the case today.

I am also very excited to tell you that I purchased these contacts (Silsoft brand from Bausch and Lomb for aphakia) online at a great discount.

The doctor's office was going to charge me $250.00 per lens but I got both contacts for only $279.99 at www.walgreens.com. They are having a 20% off all contacts sale right now that saved me an extra $70.00! I was so nervous that something would be wrong with the contacts but the prescription was right and everything seems fine.

I already see Tom's eyes are much more open. Doctors and therapists are undecided as to whether Tom needs to bother with contacts. Is he really benefiting from them? I think so because he holds his head up and opens his eyes much better than without his contacts.

We have a VEP (vision evoked potential) test scheduled for later this month to see how Tom's brain is responding to visual stimulation. You can read an explanation of the VEP test here. We have never been offered this test before and I am very interested to see what the results are. Thomas also has vision therapy tomorrow and I can't wait to see if his therapist notices a difference. I think I'm going to wait to tell him!

Yay for cheap contacts (relatively) and a quick and painless doctor visit!