The Redwood City Costco's optometrist-in-residence runs an efficient operation in a compact space. The various machines are placed on one table, and the patient moves down the line for the various tests plus photographs of the retina.
When the doctor went over the findings, they were better than expected. The cataracts had grown, but the corrected vision will still be good enough to pass the DMV test. There's no urgency in having cataract surgery.
In addition to eyeglasses she will prescribe hard contact lenses, which cost $80 apiece and were much cheaper than the $600 per year for soft lenses.
I expressed surprise about the contact-lens recommendation: Costco sells three different kinds of soft-lens solutions and none for hard lenses, which I assumed were passé for medical reasons.
She said that few people select the latter because of the time it takes to adapt to the irritation, and Costco only sells items that move. However, since I was acclimated 40 years ago there's no reason to go soft. Besides, soft lenses are bad for the environment.
From the start of the exam to the ordering of the glasses and lenses only an hour had elapsed. There's no surgery required now--as well as no glaucoma or macular degeneration--and I'll soon see better.
Once in a while a medical visit yields a happy result.
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