I See

This winter I have had an onslaught of eye problems. I think I had 3 pink eye incidents and recently a non-contagious eye infection. And though I have nifty designer glasses, I really prefer to wear contacts.

At my last visit to the doc, he said that my eyes may be lashing out at the type of saline solution I'm using and suggested that I use a non-preservative version. Sounds great. He gave me a free sample of "Clear Care" and sent me on my merry way.

Upon speaking with the assistant on my way out, however, I was told to be VERY careful when using Clear Care. Apparently, the solution in the bottle is hydrogen peroxide which turns into saline solution in 6 hours. So, if one was to forget and groggily put the solution in their eye BEFORE the six hours, a sizzling hot burning sensation would cause the user to never, ever do that again. Or see.

Am I the only one who feels uncomfortable with this Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde concoction? As if I don't have enough to think about than worry if I've put my lenses in for the FULL six hours or else suffer temporary blindness. I'm lucky if I remember to take my vitamins every morning and my stupid calcium pills three times a day. What if ALL medications had this funny Gremlinesque time bomb on them for toxicity? "You can take it BEFORE eating a cupcake, but do NOT under ANY circumstances take it after chewing gum."

My land...what will those geniuses think of next? Bike helmets that melt in the rain? Hearing aids that disfunction upon hearing dogs barking?

I'm going to write the pharmaceutical companies. As soon as I can see again.