How are your eyes guys?

[mtdoc]

Perfect for me. Apart from the occasional annoying scintillating scotoma.

Ha - you're whistling past the graveyard Dave.

Presbyopia is an inevitable part of aging.  It usually sets in around the mid 40s.....

If that flasher worsens and persists, or you get more of them see a Doctor - it could be an early sign of an impending retinal detachment.  I would know, I've had 2 of them..

[Fluxed Matter]

Mine started having problems about 2 or 3 years ago. I had been ignoring it thinking it was just part of getting old now that I am over 50.  Last month my Doctor sent me to the ophthalmologist to have my eyes examine. The ophthalmologist referred me to the retinal specialist. Turns out I have a membrane in my right eye. The Doctor described it as a layer of cells growing over the macula region near the fovea of my retina. This area of the eye is the part of the retina that see fine details and has the highest resolution. When I look through my right eye only everything is all waving and crooked. It's like looking at a fun house mirror at a carnival. The specialist said the membrane cause the surface of that area to bunch up and wrinkle causing a distortion.

I had been thinking about lasik to correct my vision but seems I might need a more complicated surgery now.

[PeterFW]

1/2 hour?  Only happens for 10, maybe 20 minutes at most for me.

It happens rarely but when it happens, with a vengence

I had been thinking about lasik to correct my vision but seems I might need a more complicated surgery now.

Yea, about that... i was spared (for now) to have done something like that to me.
Only do light research on the subject, some surgery techniques are a bit... lets say "old timey"

[nctnico]

I fitted new fluorescent tubes with a better color spectrum in my office. It helps a lot for doing small stuff. I'm past 40 but I can still see nearby with my regular glasses. My biggest problem is astigmatism which prevents me to focus on parallel lines or (worse) the standard X-windows woven background.

[G0HZU]

My mum has always had amazingly sharp (long) vision. Like an eagle! But sadly I developed short sight in my teens.

Now that I'm well into middle age I'm suffering with the inevitable problems with any close up SMD work. But if I remove my contact lenses my near vision is still very good. I can still fully appreciate the retinal display on an ipad3 at a few inches with no lenses in. It's an amazing display!

I've also had my first few scintillating scotomas in recent years. The first one was very scary as I had no idea what it was. Apart from this and the odd floater my vision is still fabulous in terms of resolution. Maybe not as good as my mum's but enough to seriously impress my optician

[rexxar]

I'm 23, and my near vision is not that great. I need a LOT of light to read chip numbers most of the time, and I need magnification to do any meaningful board inspection. I've also got some floaters, so I guess I can look forward to those getting worse in the next 30 years.

[codeboy2k]

I've always been nearsighted since I was in my teens, and always wore glasses for distance vision, but I could also always see the chips, leads, parts, wires and circuitry up close with my glasses on.   At around 48 I started needing to take my glasses off for close up work, and had focussing issues.
Now, I am 51, and I have 2 pairs of glasses. I can't stand bifocals or vari-focal (too wiggly vision).  The biggest issue I hate is the focusing slowness.  It can take a couple seconds for me to change from the screen to a book that is closer.

I really want a bionic microscopic eye implant   I'm waiting for the day ...

[VK5RC]

1-2D of astigmatism/cylinder in both eyes since 16yo , but unusual crossed axis, -2D of myopia, 52yo now near point now 30cm. I just put a 1D pair of el cheapo readers in front of my everyday glasses for general small work but small smd out comes the dissecting microscope.
LOTS of lights in my shack.

[Dave Turner]

I had excellent vision until about 45 when I started to need glasses for reading. My prescription has slowly become stronger. Now I also have problems for distance vision. It's getting to the stage where I'd like to have variable focus glasses rather than multiple specs like Professor Brainstorm (if anyone remembers him).

To put things in context I used to easily read 4 point text and tell which way someone's hair was parted across a valley. Sadly no longer!

[Electric flower]

My are quite unusual (astigmatism), on left eye it's perfect, but the right eye is  -2.5.
Things like through hole and smd 402 size i can solder with/without glasses.
When i worked at mobile phone repair shop things were bit to tiny so i had to use microscope and i couldn't see shit. Because i had this problem with eyes since early childhood and it was found out pretty late my brain got used to creating picture only from one eye, and when on microscope you are supposed to make picture from looking with both eyes i actually saw most of the things with the left eye, and picture from right eye was interfering with one made by left eye.
Hard contact lenses have helped me but they are too unpractical for my every day life.

Note: I just noticed how my glasses dirty are when i took a picture 
Edit: 18 now, 11-12 wore glasses, 12-13 wore lense,14-now im wearing glasses

[alexanderbrevig]

I'm +1.6 and -1.5, because of this I've been an exam subject on two occasions (I also have slight astigmatism, but enough that a student should be able to detect it). So I almost present them with all of the most common 'malfunctions' :/
The end result is that my brain has favored the one eye (the - one) and favors it by approximately 90%. I'm no good at catching things I cannot deduce the curve of (try catching a small coin tossed to you at an angle with only one eye!) so... yeah

I wear glasses 

[GreyWoolfe]

I will be 59 this year and have been wearing glasses since the 3rd grade.  Far sighted, astigmatisms in both eyes and amblyopia.  I have been wearing bi-focals for the past 12-15 years (progressive).  Just got my new high tech  Seiko digital progressive glasses.  I am still getting used to them, but I am reading things I couldn't read before.  Once my eyes have fully adapted, it will be fun to see what I can read at the workbench.  I also have plenty of light there.

[Mike Warren]

I used to joke that I could focus to the surface of my eyeball. Distance has always been sub-par, but just short of needing glasses. That has deteriorated very gradually to the point I need glasses for driving, but the real kicker was in my mid forties when my close vision started going.

At 50, I'm now at the point where I can just read the numbers on 0805 resistors in very good light, but for much of my work I rely on various magnifying aids.

[cdev]

Everybody who wants to protect their vision and hearing should take a number of widely available- effective anti-oxidants which really help-

Alpha-lipoic acid and n-acetyl cysteine, are a good pair to start with (NAC is the precursor of glutathione- your body's natural antidote to all sorts of poisons) are a good start.. both, but especially NAC will also help protect your hearing.

[mtdoc]

Everybody who wants to protect their vision and hearing should take a number of widely available- effective anti-oxidants which really help-

Alpha-lipoic acid and n-acetyl cysteine, are a good pair to start with (NAC is the precursor of glutathione- your body's natural antidote to all sorts of poisons) are a good start.. both, but especially NAC will also help protect your hearing.

Evidence?

[Rerouter]

23 years old, and have been short sighted since i was about 16, more recently my script has become more stable (dont know my numbers) which i believe is from all the driving i have to do from work (lots of long distance and long-close focus changes)

I'm the guy at work who can solder a 25um test wire onto a tssop pin bare eyed at 8", and if i look at my finger, i can get to about 1.5" off my eye before my finger print gets blurry

I mainly wear my glasses all day every day, anbd have been weighing up if laser eye surgery would actually beat the glasses, as through my glasses i have a very wide focal range

[nctnico]

Evidence?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=n-acetyl+cysteine+vision&l=1

It's literally the first result. How lazy are you?

Key phrase: "The data suggest... "

[VK5RC]

@mojochan I think mtdoc was looking for "outcome data", the first reference is an in vitro study which may offer some promise but no "whole human" data is presented in that study.
In medicine what sounds plausible can often be completely incorrect. Anti-oxidants are widely touted as a good prevention for cancer (and in the form of fresh vegetables etc probably are) but a good study of Vitamin A ( a well known anti-oxidant) in heavy smokers showed it increased the risk of lung cancer. It was later realised that some of our immune cells use oxygen radicals in the immune attack which probably mop up a lot of cancers while microscopic.
I would watch this area with interest but would await a good randomised placebo controlled trial (or two) published after peer review of methods etc. Safety data is also needed for long term oral  use. NAC is already used short term intravenously in paracetamol overdose and in those doses is moderately unpleasant as a therapy, quite a bit of nausea but trials have shown benefit in reducing liver failure in those with high serum paracetamol levels.

[SeanB]

I mainly wear my glasses all day every day, anbd have been weighing up if laser eye surgery would actually beat the glasses, as through my glasses i have a very wide focal range

You will not need glasses for 10 years, then it will hit with a vengance. As you then will have a very thin cornea after the operation if you have any accident which results in head trauma there is a good chance an eye can burst. Only fix then is to find a matching dead donor and hope you can live with the degradation that that eye already has. As well if you later want to wear contact lenses you are stuck with hard non permeable contact lenses, custom ground to fit your eye. Pop in in the morning, wear for the day and soak in a protease at night. Plus a lovely collection of eye drops.

[mtdoc]

Evidence?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=n-acetyl+cysteine+vision&l=1

It's literally the first result. How lazy are you?

Ha!  Well , I can be pretty lazy - but generally not when it comes to looking at medical evidence.

It may come as a surprise but Google is not the ultimate arbitrator of medical evidence.  That search gives 15 pages of results - none of which are evidence of cdev's claims. If there's some clinical evidence of benefit I'd really like to know.

As I mentioned earlier - I've had 2 retinal detachments and have a small amount of permanent vision loss in my left eye as a result. I'd sincerely be interested if his claims were true.

As VK5RC rightly points out - in vitro studies can identify candidates for further animal studies which can identify candidates for clinical trials in humans -BUT they in no way constitute evidence for efficacy or even safety.

I've administered NAC to several patients for acetaminophen (aka paracetamol) overdoses and inhaled nebulized form for thick pulmonary secretions. It's also given occasionally prior to administering IV contrast for radiology studies in patients with kidney disease since it has some protective effect there.

All of these uses are safe but very short term and in no way suggest that they are protective for vision or hearing as cdev asserts (or safe for long term use).

It's a legitimate idea that they might help. But volumes could be written on the numerous substances that in theory should be beneficial but when subjected to controlled trials (or even prospective or retrospective studies) have been found to be of no benefit or even harmful.

[PeterFW]

You will not need glasses for 10 years, then it will hit with a vengance. As you then will have a very thin cornea after the operation if you have any accident which results in head trauma there is a good chance an eye can burst.´#

First time i heard somthing like this, can you back that up?

Most times i think if people had a grasp on modern eye surgery and treatment of eye related problems they would not dream of having laser surgery.
Most times it is just:
"Lets throw some eye drops in there, hope it gets better and if not, though luck! Maybe we will get the stapler out and stich it back together later on."
Do not get me wrong, they have gotten pretty good at keeping you from getting blind, but just that.

Laser eye surgery is pretty stupid if you do it for convenience, vanity or because it is cool.
If you have glasses like coke bottle bottoms and can not see your own hand infront your face, shure!
But not just because you are too lazy to wear glasses...

[SeanB]

My nephew had it done, and almost on the dot of 10 years he needs glasses, and his prescription is now very unstable, with him also needing eye drops regularly.

As to me I asked my optometrist when I went and got my test this month, and he also agrees that it is great for massive corrections, with a thick cornea to get it down to a thinner one, and to shape the lens to get the corrective lens down to something that you can do in glass or polycarbonate without having to use an ultra high refractive index lens just to get the mass below 100g.

My script is in Transitions II, expensive ( and i paid for it) but cheaper than the V3 now available. Got the lens down to under 5mm thick, if I had to get glass lenses I took the set he made with the setup frame, and those came to around 100g for the glass lens alone. I would need to have 2 titanium pins put in my forehead to hold that lot. Took the photochromic option as well, and the scratch proof coating as well. This holds up well, I barely have any damage on the old lenses, and I use glasses full time, and work in dusty, dirty and messy machinery. Plus they also act as some protection against eye damage. the frames fell apart from wear, and are no longer made. I must order a spare frame next time I see him this weekend.

[PeterFW]

My nephew had it done, and almost on the dot of 10 years he needs glasses, and his prescription is now very unstable, with him also needing eye drops regularly.

One last thing on the subject... went to 6 or so different optometrists, a decent number of them had glasses.
I wonder why, if laser eye surgery is supposed to be so awesome

[ABroodryk]

I used to be -2.75 both eyes wearing glasses/contacts for everything but I would recommend Ortho-K http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthokeratology Now back to better than 20/20 and only lenses when sleeping... Definitely the best option for less than -5...

[V8Dieselpower]

Always had superb vision up till a couple of years ago when I started needing reading glasses for small print etc. Just the norm for approaching 50.