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Original poster

Has your vision deteriorated as you’ve aged?

67 replies

SinkGirl · 22/02/2019 21:48

Apologies for any typos - I can’t see what I’m typing!

I have been very mildly long sighed since I was a kid and wear glasses if I need to read small text or do anything intricate.

In the last few months I’ve found that if I’m in a low light situation, my vision is really blurry - currently in bed with no light on and cannot read my phone screen at all, it’s just a blurry fuzzy mess!

Going to make an opticians appt but is this just getting old? Haven’t had an eye tests for ages. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard ofjaving blurry vision when light is low - you’d think having a screen that lights up would be enough!

OP posts:
dutysuite · 22/02/2019 22:35

I've been short sighted since a child and my prescription changes all the time. However, last summer I had really bad hayfever and with all the rubbing of my eyes they suddenly just went really blurry. Since then I have long sighted and short sighted vision! It is so annoying. I have just turned 40.

dementedpixie · 22/02/2019 22:36

I have glasses on right now to read my phone screen. I also use them to read my kindle

Sammy867 · 22/02/2019 22:41

I’m 31 and just had my eyes tested. Over the last few months I began to feel a bit strange with my glasses on, as though things were too magnified and apparently mine have gotten better. I am short sighted so close up vision is fine.
The glasses I am currently wearing are 3 years old so it’s not as though this prescription was wrong as they were fine for 2 years.
I had my first pair of glasses aged 13 and my short sightedness increased from that age.
My current prescription is -3.25 in right eye and -2.75 in the left and my new prescription is -2.25 in the right and -2.00 in the left. The only difference is I no longer wear contact lenses in the last year so I am unsure if this has been damaging my eyes in the last few years.

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Original poster
SinkGirl · 22/02/2019 22:48

duty apparently thyroid eye disease can be mistaken for hay fever - just mentioning in case this is relevant for you www.btf-thyroid.org/information/leaflets/36-thyroid-eye-disease-guide

OP posts:
Al2O3 · 22/02/2019 22:57

As I have got older my vision has generally improved. Nowadays when I look at someone I can see much deeper and with more clarity into their soul.

dementedpixie · 22/02/2019 22:59

Were you long or short sighted to start with?

Fanjango · 22/02/2019 23:09

Yes. Very recently too. Had reading glasses with very low prescription from back 20 years ago. Rarely used. Then my iPad went wrong. Found I couldn't see the words on my phone well so picked up some cheap reading glasses. Now I can't read anything without them. Happened in the course of a week! Aged 45 and definitely been going through meno for over 8 years I put it down to hormones

Original poster
SinkGirl · 22/02/2019 23:11

Long sighted but it’s really not been that bad and I haven’t needed them much for years (was much worse when I worked at a computer full time). Currently up due to dental pain and with the light on I can see everything clearly

OP posts:
BackforGood · 22/02/2019 23:17

Over 40, it is normal for sight to deteriorate (from people I know, and notices in the opticians - I'm not qualified in anything medical) however what you describe is not normal. that is shocking. I can't believe you've not gone to the optician months ago.

FermatsTheorem · 22/02/2019 23:20

Opticians is good call. Though it could well be that presbyopia has set in earlier because you were long-sighted to start with (I'm short sighted so didn't need reading glasses till I was nearly 50).

IIRC from school the lens in your eye has muscles round it - the ciliary muscles - a circumferential set which "squish" it into a more spherical shape (to look at nearby objects). When these muscles are relaxed it flattens into a thinner shape (focused on the far distance). With age, the muscles lose strength and you can no longer "squish" the lens efficiently, hence the onset of long-sightedness with age. (I'm sure there's a more technical word for this than squishing, but you get the idea).

Weirdlookingbricks · 22/02/2019 23:21

Yes. Brilliant vision till my late 40s.
I wear varifocals now Sad

Original poster
SinkGirl · 23/02/2019 00:27

It’s hapoened quite gradually and I dont spend much time trying to look at / read things in the dark so I didn’t think it was that bad (or it’s got a lot worse quickly). I first noticed it when checking my son’s blood sugars one morning - it was quite dark still and I couldn’t make out the blood spot properly. I thought I was just tired.

I will definitely get on to an optician this week.

OP posts:
pleasenotmondayagain · 23/02/2019 00:30

Glad to have found this! I went to the optician today for the first time in four years. Never needed glasses before, but since Christmas time I've started to wonder if my feeling of mental tiredness was in fact just tired eyes.

The optician said exactly what others have said here. I'm late 40s, and my distance vision is fine. I came away with a prescription for reading glasses - apparently tired eyes are a good indication of age related presbyopia which is likely to worsen over time.

I didn't struggle bwith small type in the test. The line that read 'this is the smallest type in common use' (or something like that) was perfectly clear. But the optician says reading glasses will help prevent that feeling of eye strain at the end of the day. But apparently they will make it harder to read a VDU and see into the middle distance. At that rate I will be taking them on and off every few minutes at work! I flit from paper to screen all the time.

How much difference will correcting +1.00 sph. make? I'm wondering if I will have a 'wow' moment over how much fuzziness I've failed to notice over time.

HoneyDragon · 23/02/2019 00:33

Nope mine has improved with age. I had worn glasses since I was ten. When I turned 30 they said I didn’t need them any more and at 40 my vision has further improved eom my 30’s Grin

LadyB49 · 23/02/2019 00:34

I got reading glasses at 40. I'm now 70 and they've got gradually stronger.
Recently I've had diffs focusing on text and went back to my optician. I got new glasses with a prism in each lens to correct this. The muscles at my eyes have become weaker and don't move at the same speed thus causing the double vision.

HoneyDragon · 23/02/2019 00:35

*from

Dog just jumped on me Hmm didn’t see that coming so my vision clearly does need to improve after all

LadyB49 · 23/02/2019 00:36

I also have glasses specifically for use with my desk computer and monitor..... Middle distance.

ineedaholidaynow · 23/02/2019 00:46

I have been shortsighted since my 20s. Like another PP I was hoping that as I aged my eyesight would improve as I headed towards being long sighted, so I would end up with perfect vision. No such luck, just have all round crap eyesight in my 50s.
I wear contact lenses and currently I can get away with wearing cheap reading glasses when I have my lenses in, but I know the day will come that varifocals will be needed, whether of the glasses or contacts variety I haven’t decided yet.

Weirdly, when I don’t have my lenses in I can read without glasses, but only with my right eye, it is blurry in my left eye.

DH still has perfect vision. It is not fair.

Of course the next thing to look forward to is cataracts Shock

AornisHades · 23/02/2019 01:07

My dad's v short sighted vision has recently improved. In his 70s.

My previously perfect vision went long sighted in my early 40s. It continues to get worse. I need new glasses, but life is busy. (SEN dc, work., illness).

TryingSoVeryHard · 23/02/2019 01:31

The start of cataracts can cause poor vision in poor light. Mine started in my 40s. Easily fixed if it's that though NHS want them to be v bad before surgery in our area. Probably unlikely but it's one possibility.

Original poster
SinkGirl · 23/02/2019 02:33

That’s interesting - I definitely need it looking at. Just realise it’s much worse in on eye than the other, which I guess wouldn’t happen if it were age related?

OP posts:
Decormad38 · 23/02/2019 02:57

Yes mine started going to after 40. The joy of ageing!

BrizzleMint · 23/02/2019 03:16

It's changed because I can't read small print with my glasses on. I don't wear them for anything close up.

underneaththeash · 23/02/2019 07:12

OP = Yes, you need an eye exam, but generally anyway, the less light you have the worse you see. So low light exacerbates existing problems.

@MeetOnTheLedge - the reason your close vision is better in your contacts is due to them sitting away from your eyes. When you look down to read something you look away from the optical centre of the lens. Especially with higher prescriptions the power of the lens becomes less strong as you look away from the centre, so helps you to read more easily.
As contact lenses sit on the eyes you don't get the same effect.

JenniferJareau · 23/02/2019 07:18

My sight started to deteriorate at 19 and optician said I was short sighted. Gradually got worse over the years but then hit my mid 40's and my eyesight improved. Optician said it would about that age. Now if wearing my glasses I have to peer over them if looking at something up close and my prescription has improved too.

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