Has your vision deteriorated as you’ve aged?

[SinkGirl]

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!

Yes .. I had perfect vision until this year (44) and now wear glasses ( from the poundshop) for reading . My eyes go blurry by the evening .
I had an eye test and she said I could get glasses but didn't need them really yet but I find they help me read better in the evening .

I’ve been shortsighted and worn glasses since the age of 7. It got progressively worse until I was about 40 and now, close to 50, is reversing a little!

Usually a sign you need varifocals

Yes. From the age of 40 everyone I knew started getting glasses. And if you look at old people most have glasses! It's quite a well known phenomenon!

Mine deteriorated rapidly about 42/43 as did dh's and similar aged friends. Has stabilised now but I'm left needing varifocals

The minute I hit my 30s I needed glasses - it was almost comically timed. I’d never had them before, assuming it is simply age. Everyone in my family had glasses since childhood, I thought I’d been relatively lucky to manage that long.

I've worn glasses since I was 7 and am very short sighted. Once longsightedness kicked in the short sight improved slightly but it definitely brought its own problems, albeit largely sorted by varifocals. I do find however that I have an increasing problem switching between looking at something close up and in the distance - e.g. if I'm sewing whilst watching TV, I struggle to read any writing on the TV.

I've needed glasses since I was six and am incredibly short-sighted. However when I had my last check up in the summer my eyesight had improved! Apparently it's fairly common in people who have been short-sighted since childhood.

Both DH and I started wearing reading glasses from the age of about 45. We have both recently had an eye test and I have been prescribed glasses for driving - I'm borderline but with new regulations in force I'm not risking it. DH has just been diagnosed with glaucoma at the age of 57. His eye sight is fine other than needing glasses for reading. There is no family history of it and it is in the early stages so further deterioration can be prevented.

Everyone should be having regular eye tests - they can pick up so much more than just a deterioration in eyesight.

I know, I feel stupid for not going sooner now, but things have been so hectic with my boys and their many, many medical appointments- and it’s not like I could take them with me so there just hasn’t been a good time. They’re at nursery two mornings a week now though (well, they’re supposed to be but constant bugs are messing that up!) so its much more manageable.

Just tried to book an eye test online with a couple of big chains and they don’t have any appointments for three weeks! Going to have to ring round some today and see who can fit me in as I don’t want to wait that long - a few of the responses have made me a bit nervous. I didn’t realise how bad it was until last night.

My 2 kids and I go to a local independent optician. Dh goes to one of the big chains near his work

One of my boys has a visual impairment where his optic nerves are under developed, and I’m constantly wondering about what he can and can’t see, taking him for examinations etc but clearly I should have been paying more attention to my own eyesight!

Right now it’s totally fine but I’m aware I am straining more. Nothing like last night though where I couldn’t see what I was writing and was having to guess at what others were posting. It’s never been that bad before but now I’m wondering when was the last time I tried to read my phone in a dark room so I’m not sure if it’s a sudden change or gradual Just experimenting now and both eyes are fine with things far away but up close my right eye is very blurry even with better light. I don’t think my right eye has always been that much worse than the left. If I hold my phone at arm’s length it’s clearer so I guess I have just become more longsighted but will definitely get a test to make sure there’s nothing else going on.

I’ve been having neuropathy in my legs and hands for about 18 months which has progressed very gradually from a tiny spot by my knee - GP has been talking about referring me to neurology if it doesn’t improve. Really hope it’s not connected - will have to mention it to the optician.

Good luck. You might get a quicker appointment with an independent.

Wanted to thank everyone for your advice the other day - had my eye test this morning and it’s nothing sinister, just my eyes have been compensating for years and now they’re struggling to do so. Glasses all the time for me - can’t wait to get them so I can see again!

Brilliant update! Hope that you find some frames that you love.

I am nearly 47 and definitely notice a deterioration especially in low light but not bad enough to go to the opticians yet, it's only really things like orange print on a yellow background or the ingredients lists on cosmetics that I need daylight for. It's interesting that people say that the deterioration continues though. DH is older than I am and has had glasses for a few years and recently got a new pair as his vision had got worse.

But my mother, who is 80 this year, and got her first pair of glasses at around the age I am now, still has those glasses, and can still read a newspaper fine without them if she takes it to the window - DH can't. Her vision is as it was (and she does get her eyes checked regularly).

What I do think is interesting is that I have worked with computers for the last 20 years and yet I am going to need glasses no earlier than my mum did (my dad was much older than my mum and I have no idea when he first got reading glasses). I don't know what it will be like for kids who have used ipads since birth more or less but certainly in my case it seems to suggest that your eyes are not affected by computer use. And I know anecdotes are not data!

I picked out a couple of pairs, very different to what I’ve had before but my old ones just don’t suit me now I’m older (with a post-pregnancy moon face!). They had that fancy thing where they scan your face and it suggests frames for you so I went for a couple that were recommended on there. Think it’s going to take some getting used to!