Marbles? Egg Yolks?

Marbles? Granite tables? Egg yolks photoshopped? None of the above.......

These are photos of my eyes. Yes, my right and left eyes! Beautiful, aren't they? The different colors don't mean I wear colored contact lenses. Have never and I don't think I will ever in my lifetime. The golden one is the photo in full color. The rest are the black-and-white shots. Very interesting, hah?

My eye doctor explains to me that in color, he can not tell where the troubles in my eyes are. In black and white, the veins are highlighted and show where the possible culprit is. The two upper shots were taken as soon as I started "posing" for the technician. You know, chin and forehead perched on half-moon cups ? The rest were taken at second intervals after I was injected intravenously with a yellow dye, which incidentally, might turn me into a yellow humanoid for 24 hours. The injection was at the bend of my left elbow and after a split second the dye had already spread through the veins in my eyes. That, I think, is incredibly scary. The width and brightness of the veins indicate the amount of dye and the rate that it spreads within my circulatory system. The shots were taken within, I would say, 20 seconds, or even less!

Notice the white spots that look like chalazae? Those are the centers or connectors (I wish I can remember all the technical terms I heard the doctor mentioned!). The rounder ones are undamaged, the wider one shows some damage that caused an irregularity, the doctor suspects, that might have come from a stroke that caused a slight clot in a vein thus preventing the continuous flow of blood into my right eye. Such occurence can be caused by elevated blood pressure, and or cholesterol. And, because the doctor wanted to make sure that I didn't need an eye operation, I had my eyes: dilated three times, poured with numbing liquid, yes, three times, checked for pressure twice. Plus I had to click on a mouse everytime I "see" a light flashing around a dot, while my eyes, one at a time, stared at that one dot of light! For eternity, as if.... Oh, I almost forgot: I had to wear an eye mask (a la Pirate of the Carribean) to test how many letters I can see from a chart 20 feet away, twice! I was also told that my sight will not go back to normal neither will it improve with prescription glasses but I will, in due time, adjust to it. Very reassuring, eh?

Five hours of staring, eye-widening, eye numbing, eye-poking, etc. would have been more unbearable if not for the technicians and a physician equipped with great senses of humor!!

And, if ordered, I will do it all over again as long as I don't have to see an eye surgeon!