Imagine the fear of losing your sight

SFTPhotography

SFTPhotography

Ranger Smith
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-46904699

That must be terrifying knowing you could lose your sight. How would you all spend your time knowing you might only have a few years before losing your sight. Me, I'd be over the Pyrenees and Alps ASAP to see and shoot them before it was too late.

I could lose my smell and hearing but sight is the one sense I would really hate to lose.
 
I think that as photographers we live a more "visual" life than others so losing our sight would possibly impact us, and other artists, more than it might impact others.

By that I mean that when I think of my family or talk to them I can "see" the environments in which they live and the photographs I have taken of them there.

And when I think of where I live I can "see" the areas around my home by the photographs I have taken.

I hope you understand what I mean by that.
 
It is scary and I can't deny that suddenly getting terrible floaters a few years ago prompted me to enjoy my photography whilst I can,... and it was an excuse to buy another lens :)

I recently met a lady who has a faulty gene and lost her sight in her late thirties. Very sadly her son has inherited it and is now undergoing gene therapy to try and save his sight. He is only late teens.

She is truly an inspiration and I felt very humbled after spending time with her. She bravely makes her way on public transport and finds her way round town. She has very slight peripheral black and white vision and used to enjoy painting. She was unaware that her colour was going to go, otherwise she could have painted a pallet to help her identify colours. She said she now likes to try and view high contrast black and white images, so I plan to share some of mine with her.

We tried to meet up again, but she needs good weather. We will though, and when I know her better I will offer to come to her or transport her. She really is quite remarkable.

I think sight would be the worst sense to lose. My hearing is going and that can be quite isolating, but sight is far more important to me.
 
petersmart said:
I think that as photographers we live a more "visual" life than others so losing our sight would possibly impact us, and other artists, more than it might impact others.

By that I mean that when I think of my family or talk to them I can "see" the environments in which they live and the photographs I have taken of them there.

And when I think of where I live I can "see" the areas around my home by the photographs I have taken.

I hope you understand what I mean by that.
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I totally get it. Without my sight I doubt I’d have much to live for.
 
I had mine saved when they placed a stent behind it to lessen pressure build-up. Other eye I have drops for 3 times a day.
 
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Losing my sight has always been my greatest fear (other than losing my children of course).

I read this book almost twenty years ago - if you truly want an insight (no pun intended) into this terrible condition have a read.

I can't recommend it highly enough - it woke me up and helped me appreciate just how lucky I am (or was at the time anyway).

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53638.Planet_of_the_Blind

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Planet-Bli...547912637&sr=8-1&keywords=planet+of+the+blind
 
Since 2012 when I 1st got a camera my eyes have been opened up to more beautiful things in life, I see more beauty in things, more nature, more scenery and just more of everything I guess.
As I am one that has had my sight fail slowly with age (not that I am that old) and now have to wear glass`s to read or look at my phone it is just a pain in the @rse
But hopefully next month I will spend some money and have that short sightedness corrected although I will possibly lose some distant vision but that`s the compromise.
I am like you, to lose my eyesight at my age or in fact any age would be catastrophic and have a huge impact on my life.
Again, like you I would much prefer to lose hearing or sense of taste/smell.
 
I'd hate to lose my sight.
Since my late teens I've had an eye condition called keratoconus which can cause severe loss of vision, but in severe cases you can get a corneal transplant.
My condition is not drastic and can be corrected with special contact lenses.
For a few years I had to wear 2 lenses in each eye.
I do appreciate my sight, and don't take it for granted.
 
I think the real issue here is good health. If we're well, relatively fit, able-bodied and not in pain, we often forget just how lucky we actually are, despite the superficial circumstances we may find ourselves in.

So next time we crave the latest camera, lens or 'must have' accessory, perhaps we ought to think about this and be grateful we have the ability to enjoy the 'toys' we actually have, and count our blessings?
 
Mr Badger said:
I think the real issue here is good health. If we're well, relatively fit, able-bodied and not in pain, we often forget just how lucky we actually are, despite the superficial circumstances we may find ourselves in.

So next time we crave the latest camera, lens or 'must have' accessory, perhaps we ought to think about this and be grateful we have the ability to enjoy the 'toys' we actually have, and count our blessings?
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Rubbish. Glaucoma for one is an inherited eye condition. Where you got that good health notion from I have no idea

Here is a list of eye conditions that have nothing to do with good health

http://www.bausch.com/your-eye-concerns/diseases-and-disorders
 
realspeed said:
Rubbish. Glaucoma for one is an inherited eye condition. Where you got that good health notion from I have no idea

Here is a list of eye conditions that have nothing to do with good health

http://www.bausch.com/your-eye-concerns/diseases-and-disorders
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I'm sure he didn't mean good health in terms of preventable ailments, more so that we should be grateful for our health and with it our ability to do what we want whilst not being restricted by any illness or ailment, hereditary or otherwise. Disability to do what we want, like death, comes to us all. Question is always when.
 
realspeed said:
Rubbish. Glaucoma for one is an inherited eye condition. Where you got that good health notion from I have no idea

Here is a list of eye conditions that have nothing to do with good health

http://www.bausch.com/your-eye-concerns/diseases-and-disorders
Click to expand...

The dictionary definition of Health is: "A person's mental or physical condition."; and in that there's no distinction between the causal factor of any ailment or disorder. As Ian points out, my reference to 'good health' was that of a person being in good metal or physical condition.
 
@realspeed yes that runs in my family so I get regular checks. :rolleyes:

I read @Mr Badger 's post to mean our good health and not something that is necessarily within our control. I completely agree - our good health is everything and we do forget how lucky we are. Any disability would be terrible, but eyes are so very precious.
 
Bebop said:
suddenly getting terrible floaters a few years ago prompted me to enjoy my photography whilst I can
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I have quite a few bits floating around. Large bits and stringy bits. Sometimes they are in the way and annoying, other times I hardly notice them.

The eye fluid thins as you get older (around 50) and this allows bits which were happily resting in the bottom of the eye, to get up and go on a mystery tour of the eyeball!


Steve.
 
Just before xmas last year I suddenly developed double vision and I thought something nasty was going wrong with my eyesight and I was scared. Fortunately the optician got some glasses made up with prisms in the lens and the ractified my problem (not cured it), but now my sight is slowly getting back to near normal - thank goodness.
 
Steve Smith said:
I have quite a few bits floating around. Large bits and stringy bits. Sometimes they are in the way and annoying, other times I hardly notice them.

The eye fluid thins as you get older (around 50) and this allows bits which were happily resting in the bottom of the eye, to get up and go on a mystery tour of the eyeball!

Steve.
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ah I thought it was the breaking down of the vitreous humour due to head trauma or ageing. My first lot were accompanied by flashing lights around the perimeter, so I got checked out at the hospital. I also had a thick C shape right in the middle of my left eye - it bounces from left to right as I look from left to right, but it is always there.

I also have them in the right (dominant) eye now - at first it was like seeing a mouse in the corner of your eye all the time.

Thankfully after a while your brain cleverly blocks them out, but I'm still aware sometimes when looking at the sky for example, or when skiing, or projected images :( Could be worse!
 
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Bebop said:
ah I thought it was the breaking down of the vitreous humour due to head trauma or ageing.
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I think it's a bit of both. When your eyes are developing before you are born, there is a support, a bit like an umbilical cord going to the centre of the retina. This breaks down and falls out of the way before you are born. The debris is there all the time but gets a bit more free when the fluid gets thinner.

This central support also accounts for a blind spot right in the centre which you don't normally notice. I think the only time you can tell is when you see a dim star. If you look right at it, it disappears, move slightly and you see it again.


Steve.
 
Steve Smith said:
I think the only time you can tell is when you see a dim star. If you look right at it, it disappears, move slightly and you see it again.
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No - that's all about rods and cones. The cones are in the centre of the eye and give you your colour, daylight vision. The rods are in a ring around the cones and are good in low light but lack colour sensitivity. That's why at night your peripheral vision is so much better than your vision straight ahead. In the case of your faint star, you're moving your eye slightly to look at it through the rods, not the cones.
 
Steve's:) both STF and Mr Smith,

I posted here about a recent experience , I wanted folks to know what happened to me , tis worth repeating

I had a few bits suddenly appear in my left eye almost didn't do anything about it it but thank god saw sense and got checked. I first saw brief flashes.... transient, very brief, then the floaters a couple of days later my doc told me I was getting old but just see the optitican for safety's sake.

He diagnosed torn retina,told me I was on a count down to loosing that eye and I was off to hos for surgery. Diagnonsis 3pm on a friday afternoon NHS( god bless 'em) at there best performed laser surgery around 10pm that night )...AWESOME in the real sense of the word.

So to you Steve STF it is incredibly scary,being told: " If we can't get you sorted you will loose that eye, and surgery is NOW no stu not tomorrow:rolleyes: !!." ..., it's something I would wish on no one,

My first attempt at photography after surgery, knocked me sideways................trying to track an Owl in stunning low light, and feeling, ha ha seeing, what I'd lost ,was harsh/humbling...it kicked the livin' day lights out of me. I'm mending and back to my usual completely battered self, life is as usual hard but good

But yeah my little dreams, my lively hood, my lady's well fare............... it all depends on my eyes,having only one I'd be grateful for!! But two is kinda nice;)

I haven't looked at your link Steve,don't really need to I am really posting cause I want to know the other Steve has been checked,,if not somebody make him read the next bit.

I was told as we get older the fluid in the eye can shrink slightly. This can pull the optical cells off the retina (floaters/bits of black in eye...sort of a curtain effect can also happen). This can also lead to a retinal tare. It's not just trauma causing retinal tares. Short sighted folks are most at risk !!

Once a tare is in place,fluid will get in there, and basically pop the retina off. Real important this....................... any one with this type of symptom please get checked

"Be" is right your brain gradually over rides the loss, but at the time ,it throw one's world a bit

take care guys

stu
 
been yesterday afternoon for the eye checkup and good news no change since last time. They actually said they cannot understand why I was stopped from driving originally. So I lost 18 months of driving experience for no reason.

I think the original eye surgeon was being over careful to protect his backside
 
Two years ago I was suddenly aware of a cloudiness in my left eye. It started mid evening, lasted a couple of hours and was gone the next morning. It happened again a few nights later and again vanished overnight.
After two weeks this intermittent cloudiness had been joined by pains in my sinuses. It got worse and worse. A trip to A&E where I saw an eye doctor resulted in antibiotics and a diagnosis of a sinus infection. A week after that another doctor diagnoses migraine. Later that same day I was an emergency admission into Boston Pilgrim's Royle Eye Hospital with AACG. That's acute angle closure glaucoma, and I was within hours of losing my sight. I couldn't open my left eye. The pain in my temple spread across the left side of my face and into my left ear. I had the pains of ear ache, a sinus infection, toothache in most of my upper teeth and my left eye hurt indescribably. I had been sick in the ambulance and was semi-conscious when I arrived at the Hospital.
I stayed overnight on intravenous meds and hourly eye drops. Had laser surgery on both eyes next morning and returned home in the afternoon.
AACG is a rare form of glaucoma and is not necessarily hereditary. No one in my family has, or as had, it. Going back five generations there is no record of glaucoma or any eye problem that could fit its description.
I now live in dread of another attack which my optician says is quite possible. I have to avoid certain meds like antidepressants that my Dr used to prescribe as nerve blockers for sciatica.
The night I had that attack of aacg was the most terrifying of my life.
 
Rabbits paw said:
Two years ago I was suddenly aware of a cloudiness in my left eye. It started mid evening, lasted a couple of hours and was gone the next morning. It happened again a few nights later and again vanished overnight.
After two weeks this intermittent cloudiness had been joined by pains in my sinuses. It got worse and worse. A trip to A&E where I saw an eye doctor resulted in antibiotics and a diagnosis of a sinus infection. A week after that another doctor diagnoses migraine. Later that same day I was an emergency admission into Boston Pilgrim's Royle Eye Hospital with AACG. That's acute angle closure glaucoma, and I was within hours of losing my sight. I couldn't open my left eye. The pain in my temple spread across the left side of my face and into my left ear. I had the pains of ear ache, a sinus infection, toothache in most of my upper teeth and my left eye hurt indescribably. I had been sick in the ambulance and was semi-conscious when I arrived at the Hospital.
I stayed overnight on intravenous meds and hourly eye drops. Had laser surgery on both eyes next morning and returned home in the afternoon.
AACG is a rare form of glaucoma and is not necessarily hereditary. No one in my family has, or as had, it. Going back five generations there is no record of glaucoma or any eye problem that could fit its description.
I now live in dread of another attack which my optician says is quite possible. I have to avoid certain meds like antidepressants that my Dr used to prescribe as nerve blockers for sciatica.
The night I had that attack of aacg was the most terrifying of my life.
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What an absolutely horrendous experience. So glad you’ve come out of the other side of it. I’ve never heard of anything like this. Fingers crossed for you it never returns.
 
Just watched that 'FirstManPhotography' vlog, said he's got some sort of degenerative eye condition and could be blind in a few years, sad situation.
 
its frightening and kudos to that very brave lady in the article , at 73 I'm physically fit a touch overweight but apart from normal age related aches and pains above average according to my doc. but my hearing has been dodgy for years and even with hearing aids its no where near as good as the wife 's hearing . and I have now developed fluid behind my left eardrum which is driving me insane ( hospital thurs hope they can sort it ) .
now the eyes I am short sighted have been since childhood and always wear glasses , but around 20 year ago I suddenly had a spate of ueivitus which is a build up of blood behind the eye and causes your eyes to swell up . had to have courses of steroids to cure it 2 to 3 months each time and on one occasion had to have a steroid injection into my eyeball not exactly pleasant while your awake . thankfully all clear now but do sometimes get floaters .. I also make sure I have a eye test every 9 months or so . it also seems I'm developing age related cataracts and will probably need a procedure done sometime in the future ..
so yes the fear is there but if hearing and eyes both go together I think I'll change my name to "Tommy" who knows
 
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