Why Would ANYONE Do This?

I am sure everyone has heard of "body modification". Ear and nose gauges, piercings, implants under the skin, tattoos, scarification, ... etc. I just watched a video about a new kind of body modification... eyeball tattooing.  Why would anyone do this??  Push play... not for the squeemish.

  

I supposed I am biased to how valuable sight is.  I will explain..

10 Months after my son was born, I noticed a "blip" in my vision. It seemed like a tiny spot that floated all over and distorted all the lines that should have been straight. When I went to my regular eye doctor, she said it was edema (swelling) of my macula, and told me to come back to see her once a week for 8 weeks (along with 8 weeks of co-pays and insurance payments). Around the 3rd week I woke up blind in my left eye. I had no sight at all, just a huge greyish black spot that covered my entire central vision. I was shaking and crying.  My first thought was of my son, that I would never see him get on the school bus, or play in the playground, or even get married. I didn't understand what was going on. Ultimately, my mom took me to the emergency room and they examined me, then had a few others come in and gawk at me... and told me to come back in the morning to see the retinologist.  

Welp, when I went back that morning, after a plethora of exams and tests, they told me I had something called CNVM which is short for  Choroidal Neovascular Membrane , which is also referred to as Macular Degeneration in the wet form, blood vessels in your macula just leak and bleed.  The bleeding causes the blind spot, the treatment causes scarring. Its the lesser of two evils.  The severity depends on the size of the leaking vessels and the proximity to your macula, which controls your central (but not peripheral) vision.

This is what my eye looked like before the treatment, the dark spot in the middle is where the bleeding is (was). Now its just scar tissue there. 

I had the BEST opthamologist one the planet. People come from other states just to see him. His name is Dr. Andrew Eller , and although he looks quite dorky tall and lanky with his bow-tie, he essentially has saved me from darkness.  I can say with true honesty, I am more grateful to him than words can explain. See, my insurance company thought I was mis-diagnosed, since I was only 24 - and with this condition, the onset usually isnt until your much older.  My case was rare. I was an oddity at the Institute and all the students gawked with their magnifying spheres in disbelief. My doctor told me that they have only treated 4 other people in my state that had the condition I do, at the age I have it (or younger), so it was rare.  I was also told that once you get it in one eye, it usually travels to the other within a year. 

Anywho, not sure if ya'll know what macular degeneration is, but it sucks. The wet form takes your sight fast, but it is treatable, in other words, they might be able to restore some of your vision. (The dry form is slow acting but is not treatable yet).   Dr. Eller gave me a treatment called PDT (Photodynamic Therapy - a crude definition would be that they suction cup a shot glass to your eye with some lube jelly and shoot a lazer thru it inna dark room while the nurse injects you with this silver stuff that looks like mercury.)  After having this done a few times, my sight has been restored to the point where I am able to do pretty much anything...except long term reading and being in the sun without sunglasses (my pupil does not dilate like it should since the photo-receptors that tell your pupil to shrink are screwed up, it just mimics what the other eye does -- so it takes longer to shrink).  I also cant drive well at night -- however if you ask my husband he might tell you I cant drive well in the daytime either haha.

I love Dr. Eller, I would not trust my eyes with ANYONE else... ever.  I love Eye and Ear Hospital in Pittsburgh, because they did not push me away saying I just had "edema".  The ER staff seemed truly concerned.  It has been 12 years since my diagnosis. My eyes got worse for a period of time, then I got another treatment and it got better again.  It has not traveled into my other eye yet. (Knock on wood) Hopefully it never will. 

The cause for my macular degeneration is deemed idiopathic (no reason that they can find) however they speculate that stress (work related) at the time may have played a part. 

Four years later, when I was pregnant with my daughter, I was told I would have to give birth by C-Section, as my ophthalmologist and obstetrician both thought that the "pushing" associated with childbirth could cause more vessels to rupture.  In addition, the PDT treatment I received (with the stuff they injected me with) were never tested on women of childbearing age, so they had no idea what to expect. My pregnancy with Jordan was scary, I had 6 sonograms, they thought she may have had cleft palate and another problem with her mouth. I ended up taking sign language courses while I was pregnant in case that was the only way I was able to communicate with her.  Fortunately, she turned out beautiful and perfect in every way.

I know there are so many people out there that have it way worse than me. Just wanted to tell ya'll my story. (A long story i know) ... but now you know me a teeny bit better I guess....AND you got an education in eyeballs.  Your welcome :)

xoxo - Em