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Original poster

Getting older is shite. I can't seeeee properly!

30 replies

DrMadelineMaxwell · 20/08/2018 23:30

It's so annoying.

I have always prefered removing my specs (shortsighted) to read but now, I spend half the day with my glasses perched on the top of my head.

Using the laptop is the worst. It's at one and the same time too close for me to see clearly with my glasses on AND too far away to see clearly with my glasses on.

As is looking at menus and seeing my dinner when it arrives.

Back to the opticians on Thurs, to fork out more for a new prescription. It's either varifocals or 2 pairs of specs as I teach and constantly have to swap between reading up close and distance vision.

Getting older is shite.

OP posts:
MoreCoffeePlease123 · 20/08/2018 23:33

I hear you. Earlier this evening I was volunteered (by someone else) to help out at an event for young people. Somebody helpfully pointed out that I have too many grey hairs to pass as a young person now. I’m 31!!

junebirthdaygirl · 20/08/2018 23:35

Went through all that as l teach too and l was constantly looking for my glasses. Now have the varifocals and wear them all the time so much better. Its something l never think about now but in the early stages it was an absolute pain. One of my little students even made a card for me and drew me saying.." where's my glasses?" I thought..time to do something!!

tapdancingmum · 20/08/2018 23:36

I got varifocals two years ago and have found I need them for everything now.

I teach Pre school and it got to the point the children's faces were blurry if they were too close and fuzzy if they were too far away.........

I do still manage to read and use the laptop without them but need them for the TV especially if it's a quiz show and there are questions on the screen 😕

Welcome to the club

GreenTulips · 20/08/2018 23:37

Buy your glasses online for the fraction of the price

That said I'm now having to take my specs shopping and can no longer read packet instructions .... so annoying

MrsSteptoe · 20/08/2018 23:37

The eyesight thing is absolute dross. I have to have varifocals, and even then I have to have specific reading glasses at work because my screen's directly in front of me at eye level, so I can't look through a distance lens, it's got to be a reading lens.
That and teeth. Years of tooth clenching catching up with me.
Your Kindle is your friend, tho, OP. One of the things about reading with shite old eyes is that you need a really decent, strong, task light - or a Paperwhite Kindle, on which the background is illumined so it has the same effect. Hurrah!

trulyscrumptiousy · 20/08/2018 23:39

One of my little students even made a card for me and drew me saying.." where's my glasses?"

I love that! 💕

Jinglebells99 · 20/08/2018 23:42

I hear you. I’ve gone for varifocals, which is much better. Some of my friends are still using contacts with a weaker prescription in the leads dominant eye. Varifocals are working well for me though. Although got my glasses on the top of my head atm!

Original poster
DrMadelineMaxwell · 20/08/2018 23:46

My optician told me I had eyesight that was in line with what to expect for someone in their.....late 20s. Bless him, I'm mid 40s.

Last year, to improve, it was just a matter of reducing my prescription for my shortsightedness as my prescription had actually improved a little. Then my close vision improved too due to not having stronger lenses over correcting.

I am now past that now I feel. One upshot - I washed my glasses this week in hot water after decorating and ruined the anti glare coating, so I needed to fork out for new lenses anyway.

As for grey hair - I'm increasingly grey/white but also increasingly itchy when dying my hair so at some point quite soon I'm going to have to give up and grey gracefully.

OP posts:
TheWoollybacksWife · 20/08/2018 23:48

I've been wearing varifocals for about 5 years now and I still push my glasses onto the top of my head for reading books/kindle/phone. I asked my optician about it as my glasses were v. expensive and I was concerned that they weren't right. She said that if my eyes were my 'preferred option' then I should use them ahead of my glasses every time. I've changed my glasses twice since so I'm fairly confident that it's just my personal preference.

ladybirdsarelovely33 · 20/08/2018 23:49

No OP - you can henna your hair. No chemicals to give you an itchy scalp.

Redcliff · 21/08/2018 00:08

I hear you - sqinting at the screen right now

IamEarthymama · 21/08/2018 00:23

I picked up my new specs today?

It's a whole new world!
I had left it longer than usual to get a new prescription, and couldn't believe how much stronger these are.
But it is wonderful, I have been wandering around looking at things, just because I can see them!

PickAChew · 21/08/2018 00:29

Get varifocals and reading specs as each has its own shortcomings and advantages.

ineedaholidaynow · 21/08/2018 00:32

I have contact lenses for distance. I am now getting to the stage where I need longer arms to read things Grin

So I have to wear reading glasses but I hate glasses, hence the reason I have contacts.

If I am not wearing contact lenses I can read perfectly well without any glasses but can't see into the distance.

I hate it. My DH has perfect vision and just doesn't understand my frustration. And it is only going to get worse Angry

I was hoping as I got older my vision would start correcting itself not be crap both for reading and distance

CazzieCatsRock · 21/08/2018 00:43

Welcome to the club, my dear lady! I have two pairs of glasses because I just can't get on with varifocals! It's a right pain having to switch glasses from TV/Distance to bloomin' reading glasses when I go shopping. Yep. Age really does suck! Have some Flowers, my love. Hope you can see them ok! Grin

LadyOfTheCanyon · 21/08/2018 08:58

I have contacts for distance because glasses drive me mad, but in the last year have had to have readers on top for laptop/phone use, otherwise I squint like a furious radgie. Getting older really sucks arse.

user1494055864 · 21/08/2018 09:32

ineedaholiday I wear contacts all the time, for distance, but have found it increasingly difficult to see close up, so I have just changed my contact lens prescription. My dominant right eye has kept the same prescription for distance, but my weaker left eye has now been changed, I was -2.75 in both contacts and my left is now -2.00, and I can see distance and close up! When I tried them for the first time it felt like magic!

specialsubject · 21/08/2018 09:32

it's a bugger, isnt it? I am lucky in that varifocals really work for me but they don t for everyone. I do recommend the specsavers higher grades if you are going to try them.

btw henna is of course full of chemicals and you need a chemical to wash your hair at all.

CitrusFruit9 · 21/08/2018 09:38

Multifocal contact lenses are the best compromise I have come across. I still use glasses for driving at night as I feel they give me better vision in the dark but for the daytime the contact lenses work well.

Haquina · 21/08/2018 10:45

I've never needed a prescription for reading even as I got older and when I could wear contacts I had one eye prescribed for distance and the other hardly anything so I could see close as well. That really did work for me, but it isn't for everyone.

TieMeKangarooDownSport · 21/08/2018 11:32

My eyesight has got so bad that without glasses/contacts close up is all I can see.

My middle age problem is teeth. That's another thing that costs £££.

DH has the reading glasses/normal glasses trouble. He seems to spend his life looking for one pair of glasses or another.

Still, on the bright side DrMadeline we get wisdom apparently. I don't know how that's going for you but I'm still waiting for mine to kick in, all the while my teeth are still crumbling.

lurkingfromhome · 21/08/2018 11:58

Yes, the eyesight thing has gone way downhill in the last couple of years but I naively thought it would just be a matter of getting stronger glasses. Why no.

I tried varifocal contacts but they didn't work for me at all. I now have normal contacts with a different prescription for each eye, but they're not perfect either. I sometimes need readers on top but can't quite get the right strength for those. Middle distance vision is sometimes a problem but not always, and I was a bit concerned the last time I drove in the dark as I wasn't entirely convinced I could see very well at all. How hard can it be?!

Oh and, yes, the teeth. Sigh.

runningkeenster · 21/08/2018 12:06

I don't wear glasses but the day when I'll need to is coming ever-closer. I couldn't read something on a wine bottle the other evening and ds managed it no problem. Certain magazines are really difficult to read in artificial light especially when they use weird colour combinations.

My mum was about 47 when she first needed glasses. She still has the same pair and her eyes have not deteriorated any further since then. But DH is always saying he thinks his eyes have got worse since first getting glasses around the same age and needs a new pair.

I don't know if all the tablet/smartphone use will have an impact on our childrens' eyes but people said it about computer use, I went to uni, did lots of close reading and have worked with computers for 20 years but I can still function at work without glasses without a problem.

Teeth are ok-ish. But I have spent many £££ in the past.

TheBlessedCheesemaker · 21/08/2018 12:22

In restaurants I now have to take a pic of the menu with my phone so that I can then increase sizing to read.
I am then able to see enough to order well and avoid all the simple carbs, the acid-reflux inducing foods, the stuff that makes me prone to farting, and anything too gluten-heavy as that now sends my insulin nuts and makes me fall asleep.
I’m a joy to take out on a date, me.

Haquina · 21/08/2018 19:33

On the upside, I had an issue where I could no longer wear contact lenses due to severe dry eye and various other conditions. Eventually I was diagnosed as needing a lens replacement operation and got multifocal replacement lenses implanted in both eyes. For me it's worked and I don't need any spectacles at all for the first time in 45 years Grin

It's not available on the NHS but worth its weight in gold to be honest. I'm so pleased. I think a lot of my problems are due to office work, computer use and screen time. We don't blink nearly enough apparently. If anyone wants any more info from a patient's pov am happy to answer PMs about the whole experience. I don't have any connection with an interested party like a clinic or any healthcare professional.

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