Eyesight getting much worse - is that normal in your 40s?

[EyeOfNewtBigtoesOfFrog]

Just want to know if this has happened to other people.

I've gone from perfect eyesight for most of my life, to being given a prescription 4 years ago for screen use. 18 months ago I was tested again and eyes were slightly worse so got new glasses.

At that time, I could read anything/work on laptop etc without my glasses, it was just a bit more tiring and not quite so easy as with them on. But since then it feels like that's changed and I actually can't see small print or look at the screen without going "gahh where are my glasses". I can't read instructions on cosmetics and food packages at all because it's always too small. Basically I feel like I've now become a person who needs to wear glasses all the time.

I'm OK with that and I'm going back to the optician's for another test - but I'm also a bit worried. I was kind of expecting my sight to decline very gradually. (I'm 44.)

[RandomMess]

my eyesight for general reading has declined by 0.25 which is not worth worrying about according to the optician however I find the difference it makes is huge! The optician says I only notice it because my eyesight used to be perfect IYSWIM.

[EyeOfNewtBigtoesOfFrog]

Thanks RM, that's reassuring - I don't know what mine is in numbers but will ask at the appt. Do you wear glasses full time now after having had perfect sight?

[Clobbered]

I think it's quite common to notice this kind of deterioration in your 40s (Sorry!). Doesn't mean it will continue at this rate, but most people who need reading glasses do need them by they are 40 isn, and even those who have worn them for ages need stronger prescriptions around that time.
A friend of mine has recently started wearing a contact lens in one eye so that she can do close work/reading but also have good distance vision. It's so much more convenient than having to find her specs all the time. I'm thinking of giving it a try too.

[EyeOfNewtBigtoesOfFrog]

Ooh clobbered, that's a clever solution but I don't think I can do the contact lens thing. Cannot bear anything touching my eye. I actually don't mind the look and feel of wearing glasses (it was more that I was just worrying I would be totally blind by 50!) so I was thinking I would get varifocals.

[bigTillyMint]

Yes.

I and virtually all my friends who did not already wear glasses now need glasses for reading. In fact we pass them round when we are out to read menus! When I went to the optician recently, he said it is normal age-related deterioration.

However, I have been managing with +1.00 for about 7 years, so it hasn't got any worse.

[RandomMess]

Actually mine may only be 0.1 - anyhow he said just to be the lowest strength off the shelf thing if I felt I needed to.

I havne't bothered yet, I just squint/peer at jar labels etc and get the dc to help out so far!!!!!

[Willthisworknow]

My mothers eyes went downhill after 40. I am 42 and noticing a decline. You've reminded me to get the eyes tested but would say yes, totally normal. One of my eye hd started to go when preggers at 38 by 0.1 - got told to start getting tested every 2 years. Think I need them now as my eyes are defo not what they were.

[EyeOfNewtBigtoesOfFrog]

Thanks, you have all made me less worried!

[SwedishEdith]

I've had to use glasses for reading since my mid-40s. Until about a year ago, I could still just about squint to read a computer screen but can no longer do that. At my last eye test, the optician told me it usually stabilises in your mid-50s.

[ghostonthecanvas]

Well now I am worried. Had perfect vision. Reached my forties and over 10 years I am now a 2.00. You all seem to have stopped. Mine is getting worse

[SwedishEdith]

No, mine's getting worse too. At last eye test, I needed a much stronger prescription and when I take them off, I really can't see people's faces properly any more. Wearing them seems to really weaken the eye muscles so exacerbates it all really. I hate it.

[LoveAndDeath]

Optometrist here.

First of all, this is totally normal. Once you are in your mid-forties, your near vision will go downhill. It is a gradual change and the reason it seems sudden is that most of us have a tipping-point beyond which we can no longer cope. When we reach that tipping point, everything seems to get suddenly and dramatically worse, when in fact it has been getting slowly worse for around 35 years!

The other thing I would like to point out is that needing glasses is NOT a sign of poor eye health and has very little to do with going blind. Needing glasses is mainly to do with the size and shape of your eye and the flexibility of the lens inside the eye which naturally becomes less flexible as you get older. Going blind happens when the eye becomes unhealthy due to disease. So you can have someone whose eyes are the perfect size and shape but they are blind due to retinal disease and you can have someone who needs really strong glasses but whose eyes are very healthy. The first is in a much better position than the second.

Also there are two types of longsightedness.
The first is hypermetropia which means that the eyeball is, has always been and always will be too short from front to back.
The second is presbyopia which is the lens in the eye becoming less flexible with age.

If you have the first type you will need reading glasses younger than your peers and when you hit 45, you will need stronger glasses for reading than you do for distance.
If you have the second type, you will never need distance glasses but you will need reading glasses from around age 45 onwards.

So if you have no hypermetropia, at 45 you will need reading glasses of around 1.50
If you have hypermetropia of say, 2.00, then at 45 you will need distance glasses +2.00 and reading glasses +3.50. This does not mean that your eyes are in a worse state of health than your friends'.

Between 45 and 60, the near vision gradually gets worse but not dramatically. Most 45 year olds will need reading specs of +1.50, most 60 year olds will need reading specs of +2.50. After that it doesn't keep getting worse, it stablises at whatever level it reaches.

Sorry for the essay!

[BigPawsBrown]

OMG wait, it's better to have diseased eyes than long sighted?

[scurryfunge]

I have an astigamatism and wear either contacts or glasses but my long sight has been excellent. Lately I find I can't read whilst wearing my glasses or contacts whereas before it was easy. Is it time for bifocals? Without lenses or glasses I can still see close up perfectly (I'm 46). I feel the contacts and glasses are over correcting.

[LoveAndDeath]

NOOOOO! sorry, scrap that! I meant the second is in s a better position than the first!

[LoveAndDeath]

That happens if you are shortsighted, scurry. With glasses, varifocals do work out best but with contacts, multifocal lenses which also correct astigmatism are as rare as hens' teeth.
For the contacts, you might do better with monovision which is a distance contact lens in the dominant eye and a reading contact lens in the non-dominant eye.

[Monty27]

Ah, I was in denial until I was getting a tube in london, got my diary out that had a tube map on the back (a few years ago obviously :)) and I really couldn't read it no matter how close or far I held it. I got glasses then.

Since then I've progressed to varifocals. They say once you start needing glasses your eyesight deteriorates rapidly which is why I had been resisting for as long as I could. Sigh.

[NoComet]

DH is 49 and has just acquired reading glasses and is very chuffed at being able to read impossibly small print again.

I'm 45 and debating a pair of varifocals.

Being short sighted all my life means I have the opposite problem. Losing accommodation means I have to take my glasses off to MN. Which is an utter pain because I can't see to find them.

[scurryfunge]

Thanks loveanddeath?..might need to go back to opticians.
Star ball...they are on your head

[babyjane67]

Ive had to wear glasses for reading watching tv etc since my late20s
Apparently im long sighted.nit sure which one though!
Im46now&my sights got much worse overthe last yr
Have had a floater just appear in my right(which ia the worst one)since july last yr
Went back to opticians&now have to wear varifocals all the time!
He said it had deteriorated much quicket than hw ould have expected but have had lots of testst&a retinal scan&the actual helth of my eyes isfine
The floater is due to ageing&ive got dry eye but allfine

[babyjane67]

Sorry for the typos,on fone!lol

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

I'm 46, been wearing glasses/contacts for short sightedness since I was 8, strong prescription which has been stable for years, I've suddenly in the last year had to go even stronger for shortsightedness. I've had the one contact lens for reading, one for distance setup for about 5 years and it's great, however I don't think I actually need it yet as I have no problem with single vision glasses, the optician just decided to try me in the different contact lenses in anticipation of needing it. I really wasn't expecting to suddenly get more shortsighted in my 40s though.

[Dirtypaws]

Yep 44 here and my eye sight has fallen off the edge of a cliff in the last two years (went to optician with bad headaches and light phobia). I was also diagnosed with cataracts how depressing!

I was actually quite worried about the decline but googled it and it souns normal. I will be getting eyes checked on two year anniversary though just to put my mind at rest!