Myopia

I was fairly young when I discovered I had myopia, around nine years of age. At the time, I didn't know what "near-sightedness" was. I didn't figure out that Myopia is the correct term for my condition until many years later. All I knew was that I couldn't see the chalk board, the detailed contours of my parents' faces or the sign we passed by in the car on the way to the shopping mall.

I also thought that glasses made me into a nerd or geek. My first pair of glasses was huge, oval shaped, blue and gold framed, coke-bottle-thick glasses. Let's just say I wasn't fond of wearing them. Soon, my vision became so bad; I wasn't even able to recognize my friends without my glasses! When I was fourteen I discovered the wonder that is the contact lens. By this time, I knew that my eyes were bad (worse than both of my parents--so bad I could see through my mom's glasses perfectly clearly with my contact lenses in) and that I had astigmatism. I still didn't understand what I had, what I was living with.

When I was seventeen and nearing the end of my introductory course in physics, I finally understood the concept of myopia. We were studying light and colour. We experimented with different lenses, and when we began drawing diagrams and calculating magnification it dawned on me that the lenses in my eyes are overly convex--that is they are "fat" or stretched into an oval shape. This means that the light sent through to the lenses of my eyes was refracted, forming an image that sits in front of the retina. This prevents the retina from producing a clear image. The picture below is a depiction of what happens in a myopic eye.
I learned that my glasses and contacts used concave lenses to refocus light onto the retina, so I can see clearly. One day, I hope to work in ophthalmology and explore more of the human eye. What I learned about my eyes not only helped me understand myself but also inspired my nursing practice. I can apply the same thirst for knowledge and understanding in clinical settings, and hopefully, improve the lives of my patients.