I just thought I was showing my Irish side.

I had my annual eye doctor visit this morning.  I was expecting a slight change in prescription.  What I got was two eye openers.  (.. and I didn't really mean to make a pun, but you can take it if you want it.)

1)  I have presbyopia.  It's just starting.  In my case, since I'm myopic with astigmatism, the effect is that I need to take my glasses off to see near things clearly.  As the lens in my eye continues to stiffen, I'll need to get reading glasses.  Probably in two or three years, though the doc says there's no predicting how quickly it will progress.  It could be as little as a year.

I knew this was coming.  Nearly everybody becomes presbyopic with age.  The doc warned me about it when I had Lasik over a decade ago.  He said that he could correct my vision then, but it wouldn't prevent my eyes from changing with age.  It seemed so far off in the future then.

Hello, old age.  Make yourself comfy.  It's not like you're going anywhere.

2)  I have rosacea.  When the eye doc said "You have rosacea" I didn't know what to think.  I mean, a) it's a little rude to bring up my red face, isn't it? and b) isn't that more of a dermatologist thing?  It turns out that rosacea has an eye connection.  There is such a thing as ocular rosacea.  Ocular rosacea is not one of those things you want to let go, as it can lead to blindness.  And while I am not anywhere near that stage, I do have ocular rosacea (according to ye olde eye doc) and it needs to be treated.

Despite years of people commenting on my red face, it never occurred to me that I might have rosacea.  I have friends with it, but I just never thought of it in my own case.  It makes sense, though.  I *do* get a red face regularly.  I figured it was wind burn, sun burn, reactions to drugs, exercise, overheating, you name it.  And some of it probably was.  But the visible veins in my face are definitely from rosacea (if the intarwebs are correct).

I still wouldn't be to concerned about treating something that is essentially a matter of vanity, but rosacea can lead to disfigurement.  That does seem to be a mostly man thing, which is nice for me.  And, there's the eye thing.  Gotta save the eyes.  So, at the urging of my eye doc, I've made an appointment with a dermatologist to get it checked out.

Also good to know?  You shouldn't use topical steroids on your face if you have rosacea.  Like the topical steroids that are prescribed for my occasional flares of psoriasis.  Which, of course, occur only on my head.  Guess I'll be looking at other ways to manage that.