"... so it's just normal for my age?"

Kevin

Code Monkey 🐒
Yesterday I'm at the optometrist and at the end of the exam the doctor starts explaining the difference between progressive lenses & "work place" lenses while showing how the shape of the eye changing affects vision and on & on; at some point of him droning on in a monotone voice I interrupt & ask the question that, in hindsight, I realize had more importance then I knew at the time. I asked "So it's just normal for my age?". At that moment, as I said the words, it hit me, the doctor wasn't trying to explain about some new issue with my eyes, he was explaining how bifocal lenses work. He was telling me I need bifocals! Wait, what?! 😲

I turned 49 a couple of weeks ago and apparently have reached the stage in life where me asking doctors "... so it's just normal for my age?" will start becoming a commonplace event. Well, shoot.

My new glasses with progressive lenses will be arriving in about 10 days. That should give me time to practice yelling "Get off my lawn!" while shaking my fist in the air in anticipation of the upcoming warmer weather. 👴
 
Welcome to Old Age. I'm about 11 years older than you, and while I try to keep myself reasonably active with hiking and biking all year round, my body is constantly reminding me I'm not 20 any more. My distance vision is fine, but my near vision is not so good. And I've gotten to the point where I hear from my physician when I go in for checkups "At your age . . . ".
 
Is that you @Kevin ? I'm sorry, I just turned 50...and at night my eyes are a little tired and I can't see so well. If it is you, don't worry. Soon enough everything else that is much more important than your eyesight will begin to fail.....and you'll be used to your new glasses.

In all seriousness....I wish someone had really drilled it into me that 20-40 is the best years of your life....and pretty soon everything falls apart, and by the time you can afford to retire, you're not in any shape to do the things you had planned.

:coffee-79:
 
I'm clearly and significantly the most senior participant in this conversation so far. I am enjoying you young whippersnappers' reactions :) As we say when we are not yelling at kids on our lawns, "it beats the alternative".

I had a recent "Wellness Check" at the doctor's, and was uplifted when he said: "You are in pretty good shape for someone of your age." Wasn't sure how to take that...

I saw this years ago and it pretty much says it all:

“Life is divided in three parts: at first, you have time and inclination but lack money. Then, you have money and inclination but lack time. Finally, you have money and time but lack inclination.”

So, Happy Trails to You :)

Rick
 
I'm clearly and significantly the most senior participant in this conversation so far. I am enjoying you young whippersnappers' reactions :) As we say when we are not yelling at kids on our lawns, "it beats the alternative".

I had a recent "Wellness Check" at the doctor's, and was uplifted when he said: "You are in pretty good shape for someone of your age." Wasn't sure how to take that...

I saw this years ago and it pretty much says it all:

“Life is divided in three parts: at first, you have time and inclination but lack money. Then, you have money and inclination but lack time. Finally, you have money and time but lack inclination.”

So, Happy Trails to You :)

Rick
Rick you are being very coy about your age!
I am 73 and have worn spectacles since 1967, they are a PITA but hey I can at least I have nice conversations with opticians!
 
I wear glasses since I was 9 years old, so the only thing I'll have to get used to are progressive lenses when the time comes. I've turned 50 last year; so far, I'm doing fine (i.e. it's no worse than it's been for the last couple of years). I'll savour it as long as it lasts.

For the time being, my ophtalmologist has recommended I take the "new" situation (not being able to read so well with my glasses on when tired or in dim light) as kind of a "built-in magnifying glass". While I have to use glasses for just about everything else, reading without them has become automatic if need be. The new issue is mislaying the da**ed things ...

M.
 
I'm the same as Matt, I've worn glasses since I was about 8 or 9 years old, I'm now 71. I had my last eye check at the end of 2018 and at the end of the appointment the optician asked me "are you aware that you're developing cataracts in both eyes?" to which my response was "no I'm not". I'm hoping that the tests these days are so sensitive that it will be several years before the condition affects me in a meaningful way and like other respondents am now realising that the best years are probably behind me, at least in some respects.

Barrie
 
I've started wearing reading glasses in the last year. I made it to the age of 54 before needing them, so I guess I'm not doing too badly.

While I was going through the unfamiliar business for choosing a pair of frames at the opticians there was a guy standing alongside me, trying on various frames and peering at himself in the mirror, just as I was. After a while he turned to me and said, "You know, this is a completely pointless exercise. It's all just a blur without my proper glasses."

-R
 
Yesterday I'm at the optometrist and at the end of the exam the doctor starts explaining the difference between progressive lenses & "work place" lenses while showing how the shape of the eye changing affects vision and on & on; at some point of him droning on in a monotone voice I interrupt & ask the question that, in hindsight, I realize had more importance then I realized. I asked "So it's just normal for my age?". At that moment, as I said the words, it hit me, the doctor wasn't trying to explain about some new issue with my eyes, he was explaining how byline glasses work. He was telling me I need byline glasses! Wait, what?! 😲

I turned 49 a couple of weeks ago and apparently have reached the stage in life where me asking doctors "... so it's just normal for my age?" will start becoming a commonplace event. Well, shoot.

My new glasses with progressive lenses will be arriving in about 10 days. That should give me time to practice yelling "Get off my lawn!" while shaking my fist in the air in anticipation of the upcoming warmer weather. 👴

Bear in mind that when you yell "Get off my lawn!" and shake your fist, you have to observe due and proper form . . . ask one of your older neighbors for tips on getting it right . . . :D

Cheers, Jock
 
I'm the same as Matt, I've worn glasses since I was about 8 or 9 years old, I'm now 71. I had my last eye check at the end of 2018 and at the end of the appointment the optician asked me "are you aware that you're developing cataracts in both eyes?" to which my response was "no I'm not". I'm hoping that the tests these days are so sensitive that it will be several years before the condition affects me in a meaningful way and like other respondents am now realising that the best years are probably behind me, at least in some respects.

Barrie

Barrie,

I'll be 73 shortly, and I've had cataract surgeries done in both eyes, with excellent results. The right eye was the first to get done. It was a few years from the detection of the incipient cataract until it was bad enough to need the surgery. The left eye, by contrast, went downhill very fast . . . in part because (in the doctor's words) "it was in the worst possible place in the lens for messing up your vision." The surgery, done on an out-patient basis here in the US, involves replacing the natural lens with a flexible plastic lens. (they make careful measurements of the eyeball before the surgery in order to select the best "prescription" for the replacement lens) Both times, the procedure was done while I was awake, but they gave me some really interesting chemicals, so I was aware but didn't care what was going on. Bottom line: I'm really happy with the results and I found the actual procedure was nothing to fear.

cheers, Jock
 
I'm at the age where tendency for old-timers to get Far-Sighted vision is reducing the prescription for being very near-sighted since the age of 8. When asked about by-focals, progressives, etc: I explain that the first time going down stairs would kill me. I use a pair of reduced strength reading glasses and distance glasses. Distance glasses have a little ridge on the frames so I can "feel" which pair I have on.

But I have all my hair. It's mostly grey, every one earned with the passage of time.
 
Some 25 years ago my pastor asked if the overhead projector was in focus. I replied that it was way off. He checked and said it was perfect so I made an optometrists appt the next day. Strangely my distance vision has improved with age and I pass my annual license test without specs but now need reading glasses. I'm 72.
 
I think my opthalmologist just talked me into the equivalent of a Fuji Red Badge lens pair of glasses. :LOL: I'm right there with you @Kevin - progressives, polycarbon frames, Zeiss coatings (wut?!), Transitions (TM). I was tempted to ask where is the fine-focus knob. Apparently my eyes have gotten a little better (how?) since I last visited her five years ago. I'll get mine in the next two weeks. I've been wearing glasses since I was a kid, so this has always been a part of my life. It's the other parts of getting old (and the requisite err..."undignified and intrusive inspections") that I'm not looking forward to.
 
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