My extremely poor eyesight...should I expect to become blind within my lifetime?

[oompa loompa]

Hey doctors ,

Thought I'd post my concerns here since I'm usually too nervous to ask my own Ophthalmologist--and they always sugarcoat their words anyway. I've always had poor eyesight--glaucoma runs in the family, in fact, and it's basically a matter of when I get it. My prescription for contacts is currently OS -6.5 and OD -7.00 ....I have bad astigmatism too. My eyes have always been weak, and though my prescription stayed virtually the same in high school, they have progressively gotten worse in college, due to many all-niters, straining my eyes when I'm viewing cells through the microscope, etc.

Of course, I'm expecting further worsening in vision during med school. My question is, how bad can your eyes get before you really can't function effectively anymore? What about becoming a surgeon (what I've always wanted to be). I can't imagine an incredibly near-sighted person being a fast and precise surgeon.

Sigh. I can still move around the house without my glasses/contacts, but outside, I'm totally lost. I don't want to spend the latter half of my life in a blurry world. What do you guys think? Are there any preventive eyecare methods that I should start practicing? Do you think limiting my time watching TV, computer, and reading would help?

Thank you all for your input!!

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[7ontheline]

Your actual prescription, in most cases, is not that important. As long as your vision is correctable to 20/20, you shouldn't have any problems operating. Some of my classmates are even worse than you in terms of prescription, but have no problems operating and are about to match in retina.

As for your future visual prognosis, as long as you don't have pathologic myopia which is progressive and degenerative (which I kind of doubt), you should be OK there. Of course I would get annual exams to monitor for the development of glaucoma given your family history, but the diagnosis of glaucoma is not a guarantee of blindness by any means. Oh yeah, you might want to get checked out to r/o keratoconus too if you are worried.

Finally, reading, TV, etc. are not going to make things worse. Sorry, no excuses for not studying.

 

[Visioncam]

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[generic]

hey, I'm at -11.5 in both eyes over here...I hear the same things...as long as you're correctable you'll be OK. Plus surgery is getting better and better, right? Oh I have astigmatism too...no glaucoma though. Don't worry so much!

 

[EYESURG]

I am currently working with a very bright med student who happens to be very interested in optho and unfortunately been diagnosed with Keratoconus in one eye! He tells me that the effected eye can only correct to 25/20. He has been asking me about what he should do...etc. What do you guys think I should tell him? I need advice from you guys. Thanks.

 

[KHE]

I am currently working with a very bright med student who happens to be very interested in optho and unfortunately been diagnosed with Keratoconus in one eye! He tells me that the effected eye can only correct to 25/20. He has been asking me about what he should do...etc. What do you guys think I should tell him? I need advice from you guys. Thanks.

Do you know what kind of contact lenses this person is wearing? How old are they?

 

[EYESURG]

Do you know what kind of contact lenses this person is wearing? How old are they?

He only uses glasses currently.

 

[KHE]

He only uses glasses currently.

Has he used contact lenses in the past?? If his vision is 20/25 best corrected with glasses, then almost for sure his keratoconus is very mild and almost for sure he can achieve at least 20/20, and likely BETTER than 20/20 with RGP contact lenses.

I would suggest that he be evaluated for contact lenses.

 

[zenith]

hey, I'm at -11.5 in both eyes over here...I hear the same things...as long as you're correctable you'll be OK. Plus surgery is getting better and better, right? Oh I have astigmatism too...no glaucoma though. Don't worry so much!

ahaha omg

I'm -23.00 in both eyes, with astigmatism of -6.00.

Quit your whining and go home, sheesh!