Can your sight get better with age?

[MASS1961]

My Mother has worn glasses or contact lenses for as long as I can remember.
She is now 76 and no longer wears her lenses, only recently stopped. She said they were irritating.
We noticed that also doesn't wear glasses now, other than reading and asked her if she could see alright. She said it was fine.
She still drives, and we are a little worried that she can see properly.

Can sight improve with age?
I'm hoping so as i'm one step up from white stick!

[cupid04]

I went to the opticians recently and I needed weaker distance glasses but stronger reading glasses. My optician said within four years I may no longer
need my distance glasses, but I'll believe that when I see it, LOL!

[MASS1961]

Thanks Cupid.

I'm just really surprised that she possibly doesn't need to wear them any more.
Not sure when she had her last eye test, will maybe suggest we make an appointment for her, just in case.

[cupid04]

I hope she takes your advice. You should have an appointment every two
years, sometimes less if there are other health proplems to be taken into consideration.

[ChuckFickens]

As a general rule most people get more long sighted with age, so if a person starts short sighted their sight can get better as they get older, if they started long sighted it will more likely get worse with age.

That said, any change in eyesight should be checked out.

[chi-chi66]

at the age of 15...now 68...I went to the opticians..given lowest glasses for
reading. In the years, I have never been since. 3yrs ago I decided to go...
( I have been wearing 1,25 in the £1 cheap range) was told, they could give
me the equivelant of what I was using.

So...in the 53 years..if I had continued to go..what strenght would I be wearing???

Distance is still the same..

[MASS1961]

Thanks Chuck & Cupid.

We'll have a chat and get her booked in as soon as.

[MASS1961]

Sorry Chi Chi, posted as you were.

I think everyone is different, I have worn glasses since I was 12, now 50 and my eyes have deteriorated to the point that unless I wear high index lenses, quite thin, they would be like milk bottle bottoms! I always say to people that if you see me without glasses, keep out of the way as I won't see you!

[pastafreak]

I started with glasses at around the age of 3. Wore them for every thing. Then-from my 40's onwards my eyes changed to the extent that I could read without them. Now-at 64-I wear reading glasses only.

[daffy654]

I am long sighted and my vision has got so bad over the last few years (I'm 43) that I have to wear my glasses all the time. I only used to need them for when I was doing cross stitch before that, now I can't even read my PC screen without.

[starone]

The very first thing I do when I get up is reach for my glasses. I would be lost without them and am glad I live in this era and not in the past when I would have had to get on without them. An optician told me some time ago that if eyes suddenly started to improve so that you didn't need glasses there was a possibility that something was wrong. So the quicker it is checked the better. Also when you get old, cataracts form over the eyes (I am getting mine done on June 28th) which will decrease eyesight, not increase. I stopped driving some time ago when I realised I was a danger to other people not only myself. I can understand the contact lens bit but to stop wearing glasses altogether seems a bit wrong to me.

[Kiki-frog]

Both my mum and dad stopped wearing their glasses in their 70s. We're a very short-sighted family, so maybe I'll be able to do the same one day.

[woofgang]

My vision has stabilised and my sister's has improved with age, both confirmed by different opticians and both described as a common occurrence by those opticians. Starbuck, not everybody gets cataracts with age either.

[MASS1961]

Many thanks for all you answers, much appreciated.

It seems possible then that her eyesight has improved but we'll get it checked just to b on the safe side.

Thanks again
Mass

[york310]

Shortsightedness can improve slightly in your fifties and beyond due to the natural ageing of the lens inside your eye. However, sometimes longsightedness can improve due to a type of cataract which causes the central part of the lens to become denser. Depending on the prescription of your mothers eyes in the first place one of these can be looked at as the cause of this change. My money is on the cataract given the recent change and the fact that she had readers to begin with.