2026 - November - New Lenses for My Eyes

Today, let's take a mental time travel together. Because of course, any real time travel would be completely illogical, I know.

But what am I talking about? Let's go.

Our journey starts here directly into the year 1984, and we comfortably land in front of my home television. There I am sitting with my father, and we are currently watching the Czechoslovak youth series 'The Visitors'.

And to prevent you from getting bored, we immediately start the next time travel: 'The Visitors' actually come directly from the year 2484!

They are bald but wear wigs. Just a side note.

Glasses also appear, but only for disguise if at all. Because no one there has sight problems anymore, my father explained to me in detail: 'In the future, no one will need glasses. Everything will be able to be lasered then. They already have that in the Soviet Union today.' A sentence I have never forgotten.

Am I in this future now? In any case, I voluntarily went in for eye surgery on November 4, 2026.

Every year, many millions of people worldwide have their lenses replaced, most of them due to cataracts. And as my father wisely noted back then, it now runs like a conveyor belt.

I, however, was in a private clinic and had multifocal lenses implanted. This (hopefully) allows me a life without glasses. Because this type of lens covers vision at every strength. Since my progressive glasses, my neck issues began. Only someone who, like me, has repeatedly stretched and tilted their head back over the years to see close can understand this. My orthopedist then simply stated at some point: 'The glasses must go!'

However, I did not take the decision for the operation lightly. Buy two new glasses or spend money once for multifocal lenses?

And despite all the routine, it remains a surgery with all the associated risks.

But by chance, a branch of Care Vision opened right next to my workplace. The place always seemed empty. Only one employee in a white coat was seen at the counter, looking bored. Otherwise, nothing was recognizable. I actually had to ask the AI first to know what the name even concealed.

One day, I simply walked in, asked, and then made an appointment. Of course, everything here has to be paid for out of pocket. But 50 euros for a very detailed eye examination seemed fair to me. On examination days, there is a real hustle and bustle in the store. Several opticians and an eye doctor thoroughly checked my eyes. In the end, I was given a number. For me, it was 5,970 euros (plus eye drops).

That was in the summer. I needed a few months to think it over.

In the meantime, I even asked the competition. At the Eye Center on Anger in Erfurt, private lens surgeries are also performed. However, they only use monofocal lenses and not multifocal lenses. This means: Anyone who wants to get rid of their glasses will have short-sightedness corrected in one eye and farsightedness in the other. The brain takes care of the rest. It also has advantages, for example, no halos around light sources. However, the Erfurters charge over 1,000 euros more plus 180 euros for the preliminary examinations.

On November 4, 2026, I was punctual at 2 PM at the Care Vision clinic in Leipzig. My daughter Stephanie was accompanying me, which would be important later.

Until one day before the surgery, I was completely calm. Just before it, however, I briefly thought about having a heart attack because I was very nervous. The advantage of a private clinic is, however, that everyone is super friendly and empathetic. Even the anesthetist noticed my excitement when I spoke of a knife that I would see coming towards me. He shook his head and asked if I wanted a mild sedative. I wanted it!

Even the surgeon, Dr. Yara Khaddour, radiated absolute confidence from the first moment. Before the procedure, there were several rounds of pupil-dilating drops so that she had a clear view, and I could see only blurry.

The sedative worked excellently, by the way; I spent half of the operation sleeping. I only remember multiple loads of water in my eyes. That was for rinsing. And supposedly my blood pressure was the best of the whole day. Well, look at that!

After the surgery, they set me in a nice chair to wake up and placed a plate of sweets on my lap. After all, I hadn't been allowed to eat anything all day. And then I watched myself shovel gummy candies into me like a zombie. An interesting experience.

Somewhat unpleasant was the walk through the city afterward. I still had huge pupils, which made everything blurry, and saw the typical halos of multifocal lenses in droves. Everywhere, rings glowed around every light source. At that moment, I wanted my old eyes back. Thank goodness Stephanie accompanied me.

I still don't see perfectly a week later; everything still has to heal. Four times a day, different eye drops are supposed to fix that. But this slightly blurry vision has indeed led to withdrawal symptoms: I instinctively keep searching for my glasses. I even put them on at one point, and of course, everything was completely confusing.

Lastly, a little anecdote from my father that fits perfectly with the topic: Even though he has unfortunately passed away, he partially witnessed the future of ophthalmology. He had his lenses replaced due to cataracts. I will never forget how he asked, 'Was your kitchen always blue?' Yes, it was, and now he could finally recognize it!

And greetings here to my cousin, who would generally like to have better eyesight but believes he has a glasses face!