139) Little Things

I'm usually not one for scare tactics, especially of a personal nature, but here goes.

This morning, I woke up to find my left eye inflamed and achy. It was a sort of pain I've never experienced when it came to eyes - instead of the usually stinging or itching, it was like a dull ache in my socket. As if that wasn't enough, there appeared to be a tiny white dot on my cornea that wasn't there before. Luckily, my uncle of influence was in town working at Samsung Hospital, and immediately got us an appointment with an eye doctor. It was one of those sneak-through-the-back-door operations, for which I am so grateful.

After a morning of eye prodding, photographing and scraping (no joke, sat with my eye in a clamp à la Clockwork Orange and looked up into a light, while the doctor poked my eyeball with what looked like a little pin), we received the diagnosis. Believe you me, there is nothing more terrifying than listening to a doctor tell your parents what's wrong in a completely foreign language.

The verdict is that I have a corneal infection, caused by my soft contact lens. Thankfully, the infection site (ugh, so gross sounding) is on the periphery of my cornea and not on the pupil, so my already bad vision won't be affected. We were sent home with an antibiotic regimen that involves 2 drops every hour for 24 hours (it's going to be a long night). Also, contacts have been banned for three weeks. A small price to pay for healthy eyes. I was lucky enough to catch it early, but keratitis is a serious matter.

I'd like to think that the infection was caused by my choice to wear and sleep in my lenses on the 12 hour flight to Korea. But really, this was a long time coming. True, I've never had any trouble like this in my 6+ years of soft contact lens wearing. That being said, I admit that I wear each pair a week or two longer than I should, and I don't rub them with solution the way I'm supposed to. Bubbling protein soak? Forget about it.

To all my dear Plan readers - take care of the little things. It's so easy to get lazy, but they'll catch up with you, sometimes in the most inopportune time. And all of a sudden, the little things become a big thing.