Wet AMD first, at age 27, now Dry AMD at age 48

(Ireland)

I noticed immediately, at age 27, that there was an issue with my sight, I just couldn't figure what had happened and was constantly polishing my glasses. It was only two days later, when I rubbed and so covered one eye, that I realised that my sight in the left eye had been severely compromised.

After extensive medical tests, and a number of years, I was finally given a name for my condition. Wet AMD. I had four scarring incidents over the course of approximately five years. One incident added to my loss of central vision in the left eye and others causing two peripheral scars in my right eye, which fortunately do not impact my sight in that eye.

No further incidents arose over the years until, 20 years later, I noticed an inability to focus on waking in the mornings. The effect on my vision differed from day to day but generally lasted only for the first 2 to 3 hours of the day. 18 months later the blurred vision has become a daily occurrence, some days worse than others (making eye test results problematic - a new pair of glasses became useless from the day I collected them). Other symptoms include: shadowy vision, some double vision - especially when undertaking the Amsler test, reduced night vision, decreased ability to discern colours (black often appears grey), the inability to undertake detail work (such as sewing) and need for increased task lighting.

My work requires me to read and write, and I use computers daily. Some days my vision is so bad that I struggle to work. If my sight continues to deterioate I will be unable to work at all. However my eye consultant constantly reassures me that I won't 'go totally blind'. For someone who loves to read, and cannot work without being able to review documents and write reports, that is not helpful.