Festive Complications

[Anonymous]

Living with the daily effects of proliferative retinopathy is pretty annoying. The eye I have some sight in is surrounded by a wide halo of flashing lights in psychedelic purples, greens, blues and whites from all the laser burns and scar tissue, my eye with no sight is a similar mass of flashing lights which are ,according to my eye surgeon, distress signals from my retinas to my brain saying “We haven’t got enough oxygen here to do our job”. For 11 months of the year I get on with trying to avoid walking into people, cars, buses etc.

Come December my life is made much more tricky by the work of meddling festive elves, bedecking my local shopping arcade and town centre with pulsating fibre optic lights and twinkling fairy lights. The lights seem to flash in sync with my retinas to create maximum visual disturbance and minimal festive goodwill turning me into a muttering mad woman.

Does anyone share this problem with me or have other complications exacerbated by this time of year?

[Alison]

So what you’re saying @megs is that you have your own inbuilt fairy lights and you don’t need anyone else providing extra sparkles to disrupt your own internal display?

Seriously, that must be a nightmare. I’d never even thought about it.

[Anonymous]

@alison that is it exactly it. I describe it as my own internal year round display, very distracting when trying to cross the road. If the lights I see were put on a tree people would stand and gaze in amazement, oohing and ahhing at the vibrant colours shooting around like trailing comets. The work of the festive elves (helped by the local council) doesn’t compete with my own display. If only I could find a way to pack mine away come January 1st…..

[Anonymous]

Urgh! Sounds horrendous Megs I don’t suppose there’s even any way to filter the excess light with pale tinted glasses or whatever since they are always all colours. Bah, and indeed, humbug.

My festive complications are more of the ‘entirely self inflicted’ food-based ;

[Anonymous]

Bah and indeed humbug, indeed @mike. Sunglasses don’t solve anything as the lights causing me the problems are on the wrong side of the lenses.

[lizz]

Is it vestigial problems with the retina – can you have the optic nerve disconnected in the blind eye?

[Author]

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