in which dr smarmy disappoints

I had high hopes for my Dr. Smarmy appointment today. When he came out of his backroom lair, I was immediately disappointed. He was wearing grey slacks, tailored nicely to his roundish shape, and a bright white shirt. His light green tie had tasteful little bunnies on it. You know, for Easter.

I admit, I almost asked him if his wife had dressed him today.

When he led me back to the exam room, he was calm and polite.

Sigh.

We went through the contact lens follow up drill and I expressed delight with my contacts. Because, really...they've given me 20/20 vision in one eye and 20/25 in the other eye. I can read easily, do needlework easily and read traffic signs while driving. I love these things.

While we were chatting, I brought up the subject of retinal detachment, nearsightedness and close work/eye strain.

I waited for an explosion of evangelistic fervor.

Yeah. Not so much.

Dr. Smarmy told me that doing close work or reading without taking a break every 20 minutes or so merely "increases your chances" for retinal detachment. "Substantially", he added. But he couldn't give me statistics on it. I mentioned looking things up on the Optometric Association websites and the Opthamalogy sites. He sighed, looked pained....and changed the subject.

I mentioned that a great many of my friends are teachers and readers and writers and were very interested in this new, low tech way to save their eyesight.

Well, he hedged, there haven't been any studies investigating a direct link. But all the studies are there, you just have to connect the dots.

So there you have it...Dr. Smarmy is now taking his meds again.

I guess it's a good idea to take breaks from reading and computer work in any case. Just don't sue me if you do and then you have detached retinas.

Sue Dr. Smarmy.

I have a follow up in a month, I'll let you know which Dr. Smarmy comes to THAT appointment.