Pterygium

A few weeks ago, I had never heard of Pterygium. Tomorrow morning I am having surgery for it. It isn't a HUGE deal, but it is progressive and has begun to effect my vision. Basically it is a growth of tissue where the whites of my eyes are growing over my eyeball. As long as there is a good contrast I am fine. The pupil gets smaller during the day. It gets bigger at night to let more light in. That is when the growth gets in the way.

At Team Run Smart we usually write about things that we do well. We want you to be successful. Sometimes we write about things that we don't do well, and hope that our readers will learn from them. This is one of those things that I didn't do well. I have never been big on sunglasses. The sun only bothered me on clear winter days. I would either lose my sunglasses or let them get scratched up. It never seemed worth it to me. I fought the sun and eventually the sun won.

It is not that unusual for our vision to change as we age. For me my night vision was getting increasingly worse. During hard rains, I was having a hard time seeing the lines on the road. As an experienced driver, I guess that over the years I had learned to compensate. That got harder as the condition worsened. If it rained at night, it was even worse. It really had become time to do something about it.

Passing the eye exam at your DOT physical – even with flying colors- isn't enough. You should be seeing your eye doctor on a regular basis. My father went legally blind in his early sixties. He had been hit from some grenade shrapnel when he was just a kid. I still don't take chances. I see my eye doctor on a regular basis. One big thing is to be honest with your doctor. Don't just shrug off changes in your vision. Tell your doctor about them.

Don't be like me. Protect your eyes. 4,000,000 miles can be detrimental to your physical health in many ways. Your eyesight is just one of them. Don't rely on your DOT physical. Take care of yourself. Catching anything early is better than catching it late. In this case, I can be fixed. How bad would I have felt if I had caused an accident due to poor vision? Just like with your truck – Prevention beats repair. Repair beats break down.