Gransnetters share the difficulties they have experienced as their eyesight has deteriorated

I'm mid 60's and still manage to see most things reasonably well. I have had varifocals for a while now as swapping between glasses was a nightmare as I work in a school needing to see the whiteboard as well as read books. Once I got used to them I have no problems.

I'm not so keen on driving at night these days especially unlit country roads but I still manage it. I know people who won't drive a night or who struggle more than I do so I hope I don't get worse any time soon.

Being diabetic I get regular eye checks for free and my employer pays for Benendon health care which covers the cost of glasses so I make sure I take advantage of new ones every year. So far I haven't had any problems as a result of the diabetes but I'm told I have the beginnings of a cataract in one eye so no doubt will have to deal with that eventually. I don't know if there is anything specific I can do to slow its development. Note to self - must ask next time I'm tested.

This happened only last week to my partner.
He got a sore throat so thought it was a cold. He could not quench his thirst, water, squash, juice, smoothies and lollies were consumed - therefore numerous trips to the loo.
2 days later he found that his long distance sight had got very bad very quickly. He went to have his eyes tested and they sent him away with glasses there and then and advised he go to the doctor.
The doctor sent him for a blood test.
The following morning at 2.30am the phone rang (no number) he couldn't get to the phone in time and a message was left. It said "Hello Dr MacFarlane here, I have the results of you blood test - will call you first thing in the morning"
That was horrendous we didn't sleep after that. In the morning the doctor rang back to say he has type 2 diabetes.
Awaiting next appointment.

My Eyesight has gradually deteriorated from the age of 40. I used to only wear reading glasses but have to wear glasses all the time for both long & short sight I wear varifocales for ease of use ageing is no fun!!However I am grateful for sight & donate regularly to the Guide Dogs For the Blind Charity as my philodophy is 'There But For The Grace Of God''

I have suffered with my eyes for as long as I can remember. I use to have a patch on one eye, several operations later still wearing glasses and having a patch over lens in the right eye. Now I am 62, and I still wear glasses,and the lens in the bad eye just has plain glass in it, and then the prescription strength on the left eye. I know its deteriorating , because I need to use a magnifying glass to read, and sometimes that is not enough, so then have to ask, I have had to order a large print bible as I can't read the one I have, and I have my dads, and I can not read that one either. But the left eye is doing the work for both eyes, so its wearing out quicker I am sure. There is nothing that anyone can do, so I do fear, that I may end up blind, and that would be the worse thing ever for me. I know when I was at school I hated wearing glasses, I was specky 4 eyes, then I was a pirate because of thge patch, the kids really use to have ago at me, children can be cruel and they are, even if your child is a saint, they do join in, that's how they are. So I get my eyes checked every year now. Just so we can note the deterioration down. then we kow if I need a stronger lens.

Last year when I went for a routine eye appointment at my optician I failed the light test. Oh what a nightmare! Waiting to be seen at the hospital and being diagnosed with glaucoma then dealing with the DVLA. I wouldn’t wish all that on an enemy.

my husband was diagnosed with macula degeneration 2 years ago .Struggling to see things now as he has had 18 injections ,he now has 5 per cent vision in both eyes.

I'd always had 20/20 vision until my late twenties and I hated it when I got my first pair of glasses. Over the past twenty years it has deteriorated, but also got better for a while too (!). But then rather worrying was when I was suffering earlier this year for much longer than usual with another bout of vertigo, I popped into the opticians to ask about having my eyes checked in case my sight had changed. I was surprised to find I had to ask my doctor for a letter as my next eye test was not for another four months. However, the surgery wouldn't issue a letter! Luckily, the optician bypassed the rules and allowed me to take an earlier test and he found my eyes had changed, although changing my prescription didn't affect the vertigo.

I was trying to post on this yesterday and all of a sudden another post appeard over what I had written.That really annoys me.

What I started posting was about was glaucoma .
It has run through all the women in our family.
I have what is called "normal pressure glaucoma"
But I have never had that explained.
I take Timoptol. drops daily . I have been given those for a long time. I have had one cataract done to good effect.
The surgery was interesting .
It was like watching a psycodelic light show.
(My spelling is getting worse. ) I then had to wait a while for the eye to settle down and heal before I had the final OK from the consultant .
We have a good eye care centre where I live.
The difference when I got my new glasses was really good.
It was really good to get the final result.
Really clear and bright. I had not seen so clearly for a long while.

I am in my early 50's and i have noticed my eyes getting worse in the last few years but ever since the new energy bulbs came in i have struggled to read as much as i used to do and it is getting frustrating
There is glaucoma in my family so was having eye tests every year but now the government has reduced them to every 2 years so hopefully i won't wake up one day having lost my sight
i am due to get my eyes retested in the new year and i am expecting a big change in my prescription as i know they have got a lot worse lately as i have to keep blinking and they also get very itchy
i wear bifocals and i am hoping they are always available as varifocals make me sick quite literally

I have worn glasses since I was 11. I am shortsighted. From about the age of 50 I have had some difficulty reading very small print. I have not heard of Serious Readers.

Reading books is a pain now as I struggle to see the print.

I developed cataracts in my early 40s. It was really tricky for quite a while as my work involves lots of reading and computer work, plus my main hobbies were reading and embroidery. Although the cataracts are fixed, I've never got back into embroidery as I just don't feel like my eyesight is sharp enough. I bought a special lamp, which helps, but it's not the same! With reading, I generally use a Kindle as it's great to be able to adjust the font size up if my eyes are tired.

OK, so last year I almost went blind. I was teaching and there was pain behind my left eye. I was excused to go to the hospital (long story short... there was a bit in between). I ended up in eye A&E, feeling very ill and a splitting headache. I waited for 4 hours. They finally 'upgraded' me to the consultants rather than A&E. I went through 4 minor ophthalmologists before being taken to the senior ophthalmologist (who's name is like Obi wan Kenobi - I kid you not)... She looked in my eyes (again) and I was frustrated and about to pass out when I insisted someone tells me what was going on. She took the lens off my eye and said 'yes, there is something wrong and it is quite serious - we will need to take you into emergency laser surgery right now'. Followed by 'I bet you didn't wake up this morning thinking this would happen, now, did you love'. I arrived around 10am and didn't leave until after 8pm. I was the only person in the eye department with Dr Obi. She was amazing and went beyond what she had to do for her work in ensuring that the closed angle glaucoma was rectified in my eyes. So, I don't think I want the £300 - but I think that the money should go to St Thomas' Eye A&E for a New Year treat for the way they helped me not go blind! Thank you Dr Obi wan Kenobi. She told me if I had waited any longer to come and have the laser surgery, I would have lost up to 70% of my vision.

I have 3 pairs of specs as I have avoided getting vari-focals, but I know it is only a matter of time before I have to abandon this position and get a single pair - largely because I have already lost my 3rd pair (close reading) and my middle pair (screens/reading at arms length) have a wobbly arm.

i've had trouble reading my fave book, very annoying!

As someone who's extremely short-sighted it's always difficult to see things clearly, but I've made adjustments over the years. I do resent how much money I have to spend to get glasses that meet my needs - they are hardly a luxury. Through the day my eyes get more and more tired and now I rarely read or do needlework as it's just so difficult to see clearly.

I just find it so frustrating that as the years go by my eyesight is deteriorating, it’s the simple things like not being able to read text messages or food labels without glasses and now I notice that I cannot work out where the spray comes out of on my perfume bottles and I end up spraying it everywhere apart from myself!

I've worn glasses since I was 5, contact lenses from 15, and have run the gamut of hard lenses, soft, monthly, weekly and daily disposables, bifocals, distance and reading glasses, and of course the various non-prescription and prescription sunglasses. I currently have daily disposable monovision lenses - one eye supposedly for long distance, one for near - but I'm struggling now, and my optician has suggested I'll be better with contact lenses to my near vision prescription and reading glasses as well if needed. I wish I had a penny for every pound all my lenses and glasses have cost over the years!

My latest trip to the optician was prompted by my not recognising my own grandson at school pick up - he was wearing a new coat. I hadn't realised till then how much I relied on clues such as colours to get me through - I'm face blind anyway, so need to be able to see more clearly.

I also struggle with colours - navy, black, dark brown all becoming increasingly alike. I have the start of cataracts in both eyes, which won't be helping.

I'm eternally grateful for the medical expertise and technology we have these days. As someone who couldn't read the big A on the sight chart without knowing what it was, my life would have been very different without it.

I first noticed my eye sight deteriorating when i was a couple of weeks from taking my driving test and I couldn't read the number plate, when I was about 21. I have regular eye tests and my eye sight has improved slightly from constant wear of glasses.

About 15 years ago I put my husbands glasses on to see if they suited me, I spotted something on our granite walls I’d never seen before, turns out it was detail that I had no idea existed as I’d never been able to see it before!!
My long & short sight have both gone now, the worst thing is I can no longer see my eyebrows to pluck them anymore! The next annoying thing is trying to wear glasses in the rain, or fogging you as soon as you enter a warm building on a cold day.

I've warn specs since I was about 10. When I was 40 I started wearing varifocals. My problem is that I'm used to wearing lenses made by Zeiss or Nikon which are excellent. I've never had any problems, which a lot of my friends have experienced with cheaper lenses. My problem now is that they are so expensive and I try to have my eyes tested and the lenses changed every two years.

I can only see straight forward with my eyes am unable to see out the corners I also suffer from dry eyes so my eyes constantly water which makes my under eyes swell up from me constantly drying them and causing infections so I had to stop driving because I was finding difficult to see and I didn’t want to put anyone at risk

I have always been long-sighted but have worn glasses for reading since my early teens because I have astigmatisms in both eyes. I now (aged 76) have to use them because I can see even further but can only read print in very good light if I squint. I can't have a large screen TV because in my small flat I can't get far enough away from it.

When it rains....I have to take off glasses and feel so vulnerable!!

I had perfect vision until just recently when my eyesight deteriorated suddenly causing me great alarm. After being tested by the doctor and optician they could find no cause for this deterioration of vision blaming it on age and the time I have been spending on my computer and phone. Unfortunates my eyesight is continuing to deteriorate but not so rapidly as it did, which may be because I have turned the brightness right down on my computer and phone, don't look to close at the screens and I limit the time I spend on these devices, taking regular breaks. I only wish I had known the damage these devises could cause to my vision, and think there should be more information given to people on the devastating damage that light from our technical devises can cause to our vision and how important it is to educate our children about how to protect there vision.