Eye Opener

I like to think that I'm keeping up with technology. I manage to write this blog and get it read over the majority of continents (come on people of Antarctica - aren't you interested in Turkey?). I can work the smart TV and even upgrade the apps. I listen to The Archers via an automatically updating podcast application on my Samsung tablet, which feels kind of wrong on so many levels for a radio programme that is older than I am.  But occasionally I am side-swiped by technical advances and left to feel bit like a dinosaur.  My eyesight has never been good, and I've either worn glasses or contact lenses since the age of 17. I had my eyes tested in late 2011, just before I left the UK and in the past 6 months I have found myself taking my glasses off to see clearly, rather than wearing them.  I had also been persuaded to try photochromic lenses as I was coming back to sunnier climes, but found they were next to useless as they don't darken when I'm driving in bright sunlight, but stay dark for ages when I walk from the sun into a dark room - cue falling down steps and walking into pieces of furniture that I had forgotten I'd moved.  Time had come to get some new glasses. I ummed and ahhed about where to have my eyes tested but in the meantime saw the glasses I wanted.  I am too tight-fisted to splash out on two pairs of specs, and clip-on sunglasses have the taint of the anorak about them, so I got quite excited when I saw these magnetic stick-on shades.  Clip-ons finally got cool! (Italian-made - say no more) 

I now had to have my eyes tested.  The chap who sold me the glasses was called Teoman, he recommended an opthamologist called Teoman and as my husband is also a Teoman, I booked and appointment at Bodrum's Acıbadem hospital to see Dr. Teoman Özek.  (This is probably not a good basis for choosing you doctor if you are seriously ill.) 

The last eye test I had in the UK was pretty similar to the first one I had in my teens: heavy wire rimmed glasses with different lenses slipped in and out to see which is the clearest and that difficult question "is the black dot brighter on the red or green light?" (I've never been able to answer that one honestly). The Acıbadem test was like being beamed into an episode of Startrek. As my daughter is modelling above, no wire glasses, just a clicking pair of high tech binoculars which measured my eyes in seconds and then just two or three questions to check and I was off to the optician with my prescription. As I am astigmatic and need varifocal, the glasses took a whole day to make, but my daughter's were ready in 2 hours.
For the first time in ages I can see really clearly, both close to and far away and now have to concentrate on not losing my "stick ons".

Acibadem has the reputation for being on the expensive side but if you live in and around Bodrum you can sign up for their Bodrum card (all you need is proof that you live in the area)  and you will benefit from at least 50% discount. My eye test, which included two types of glaucoma test, cost 110 TL (about 36 Euros at today's rate) with the card.