"Eye" hope you will not find this question too hard

[JonnyBoy12]

I would just like to know at what age people's eyesight starts to get worse. I was once told that this age was 45, but have since been told it is only 30. I have been told to have an eye test but I passed that with flying colours. I am 39 years old by the way.

Thanks in advance for any speedy and helpful replies.

JB12

[Buenchico]

From the NHS website:
"Long-sightedness can occur at any age, but it becomes more noticeable after the age of 40, when the lens of the eye becomes stiffer and starts to lose its focusing power. This age-related long-sightedness, known as presbyopia, can get worse with age":
http://www.nhs.uk/con...ges/Introduction.aspx

Also:
"Cataracts most commonly affect older people. Cataracts that affect older people are known as age-related cataracts. In the UK, it is estimated that more than half of people who are over 65 years of age have some cataract development in one or both eyes":
http://www.nhs.uk/con...ges/Introduction.aspx

Chris

[4getmenot]

in the first years from birth you lose alot of the vision you are born with. Some people go through life never having to wear glasses. Everybody will have cateracts in life, if they dont it just means they have died earlier than the norm.

[Mosaic]

I became very short-sighted within a matter of months at the age of ten. This set a pattern of eyesight deteriorating rapidly over short spells every five years or so.
My mother only needed distance glasses when in her 70s, reading glasses a little earlier.
It's all in the genes - I must be adopted!
Not really, it's my dad's side what wore bottle bottoms.

[seadogg]

other health issues also have an effect. I believe high blood pressure can affect the retina and this tends to increase with age.

[Maydup]

I'm sure it differs for everyone but I needed reading glasses at 47 years old. The optician told me that I was fairly normal to need them at about that age.

[DTCwordfan]

52 here when I succumbed to reading glasses (and still only +1.25) despite all the contracts and computer work) - there is a pair of glasses that look like very dark "fly eye" specs and they are designed to strengthen the eyes.....my sis has used those, I didn't know about them.....

[Purple_Popple]

Presbyopia - Between the ages of 40-45 years, most people suffer from the refractive error presbyopia. In Greek this is the word for ‘aging eye.’ It occurs when the natural eye lens becomes less elastic and the muscles that pull it into focus become less powerful. In order to see objects at different distances the eye needs to change it’s focal power. Muscles in a young eye contract to relax the ‘jelly like’ lens, changing its focal point. As we get older our lens continues to grow. Layers of fibres are laid down making the lens less flexible. Even when the muscles fully contract the lens no longer bulges out.

[4getmenot]

my optician said nothing to do with muscles, its the eye getting larger and the light not reflecting on right place at back of eye because the cornea and/or lense have become concave

[boxtops]

I don't think everyone gets cataracts - my sister is nearly eighty and she hasn't.

[4getmenot]

read the reat boxy :-) everyone will get them

[boxtops]

Chris' link says more than 50%, not all of us..

[4getmenot]

yes it does, so other half havent lived long enough to get them. I'm not saying everyone gets them at certain age, I may never get them because I would have got them at 100 and havent lived till then. The optician said tthe way the eye grows everybody would get them. My optician tells me all sorts. Because my vision gets worse everytime I go, I asked him if I'd eventually be blind and he said 'no you have perfect eyesight. As long as a person can read the last few lines of the board with lenses they have perfect sight its just the lense in eye is out of shape. Its only when they cant read it with glasses that theres a problem.

[boxtops]

Yes, I'd agree with you about the reading thing - my excellent optician tld me that a long time back, that as long as I had sight he could keep me seeing with the correct lenses. I still read Chris's link to say that only 50% of the over 65s will get them - I know a great many elderlies who haven't.

[4getmenot]

yes thats right and you do, but what I'm trying to say is the people that dont get it obviously would have go it but died. Cant explain any easier lol. Did you ever used to worry you would eventually be blind, I always did

[boxtops]

Yes, I used to share that fear, 4get, particularly since I have worn specs since I was six. I think we will have to agree to differ on the 50% thing!

[welshlibranr]

I found that my sight went downhill from about the age of 41, I found that the further away I looked at printed docs the better I could see them, then my arms weren't long enough!......time for reading specs, all downhill from there really!......

[mumsie_wumsie]

My eyesight got worse after I had radiotherapy and chemo. Before then I just needed glasses for reading, but after, I needed glasses all the time.

[4getmenot]

my boyfriend has brilliant eyesight after his mumsie.

[islasmum]

I've got diabetic retinopathy, and had to have a cataract removed when I was 47 - I was in the waiting roon with all these old biddies of about 70 - 75 who couldn't believe that I had a cataract at that age. And yes, I too have a constant fear of going blind - I alway have to have a bit of light somewhere in the bedroon, even if it's only a bedside clock. I turned short-sighted at about 25, needed glasses to drive and road noticeboards at stations etc. My mother had to have glasses for driving from about 57, but her prescription never changed.

[islasmum]

should be "read" noticeboards