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Eyes too far gone for science to correct?

[[It's a fairly wordy story but I'm trying to make it clear. Bear with me, words of support welcome right now even if you don't have any medical knowledge!]]

Quick history: Eyesight was fine until early teens, then I started needing glasses for my long distance vision. Plateaued for a bit but in the last few years has got rapidly worse in a manner that many opticians thought was concerning though my eyes always looked healthy. Still, I'm now 26 and all my experiences were fairly straight forward:
Step 1: Saw optician
Step 2: Got new prescription (apart from once or twice during the plateau where I was still fine)
Step 3: 2 week wait for new lenses
Step 4: Waited until next appointment (or sooner after I started to get worse quicker).
Step 5: (Repeat)

The problem I'm asking about started a few months ago. I'd noticed my eyesight getting blurrier for months and held out as long as I thought was practical before finally going in for my new prescription...

Appointment #1: Very quick

#1 Lenses: Not good. Got a lot of strange "blurring" around words at a distance. Eventually went back...

Appointment #2: Seemed in a rush to get me out of there, gave me an even higher prescription. I tried pointing out that I was still getting a weird effect around words but he told me that's the best they could do and got me out.

#2 Lenses: Worse. Was not happy, so I tried another opticians (smaller one)

Appointment #3: Polite staff who seemed to listen to me, picked up on blur on my left eye's photo, plus that my left eye seems to have an extra blind spot of sorts (words/letters disappear as I'm reading them, and if I stare at the middle of a grid the left side will start to warp). Gave me a new prescription much closer to my old glasses, said that what I'd been seeing with the last lot was known as "ghosting" due to the prescription being too high. Was very happy and optimistic following this appointment (I knew that, at the very least, we'd got the right eye seeing clearly).

Another member of staff decided to put my old lenses back in so that I had more comfortable (albeit blurry) vision. Took about an hour for my eyes to get used to it but was a welcome break.

So all great until...

#3 Lenses: I can't tell the difference between these and my old pair. I'm still getting a lot of blurring (e.g. credits of films will blur upwards to twice their height even if I'm 4 seats from the front). Neither eye's seeing clearly. So of course I gave them a week or so in the hope it was just me getting used to them, but they got no better, so... Back I went...

Appointment #4 (earlier today): Found the same prescription. I'm being referred to a specialist for my left eye's photographed abnormality, but since neither eye is clear I'm not sure what that'll help.

...The irritating thing is that I can make out most of the letters at an acceptable level, but I know I'm just guessing/reading through the blur rather than seeing it. Even if this is how well most people see, I KNOW I'm seeing far less clearly now than I was just a year ago. I always used to be amazed by my new lenses when I got them since the world had so much more crisp shading, but no longer... I could maybe understand this if I'd been getting gradually blurrier with-glasses vision over many years but this is the first time I've had any problems like this and I'm only 26.

Also annoying: If I squint I can normally get things to come into perfect focus briefly. Sadly doing that gets tiring when, say, watching a film, or looking at item prices at stores. Having trouble watching moving things too (when they're not in daylight), but I'm not sure if that's relevant...

Either way I'm pretty upset. I feel like I'm going blind and no one's too bothered because my eyesight is apparently still of an acceptable level. Also that my enjoyment of watching high definition films is over without warning since they now blur so much that they needn't have bothered being HD apart from the important scenes that I squint for. This is rather horrid.

I guess I should hold out hope that the specialist I'm referred to may have answers, but I was just now trying to watch a film with my parents and just couldn't (the way all the white blurred up was just depressing), so I thought I might feel better if I at least tried making this post. Ideal situation is that someone knows of the exact same thing and a positive solution that goes with it, but... Yeah, doesn't seem likely. Maybe this'll at least make me feel like I've done SOMETHING about it.
5 Responses
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233488 tn?1310693103
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
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Avatar universal
Okay, thanks all! I will keep at it.
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233488 tn?1310693103
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
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Helpful - 0
1932338 tn?1349220398
Hang in there.  I too know the feeling of being rushed thru an appointment and didn't like it, although couldn't change it until I changed Docs.  Keep searching with Dr. and specialists (especially if you have insurance to cover additional opinions, like mine did) until you find someone who actually addresses your concerns.
My first thought was to see a Retina Specialist.  Your blank spots sound like what I have, and I have had scar tissue on my retina, which was discovered by my reduced vision, wavy lines on sides of doors, etc., and blind spot symptoms leading me to a Retina Specialist who did an OCT test to confirm the heavy scar tissue on my retina blocking part of my macula (central vision area).

Keep researching yourself thru forums and online so you learn your eye's anatomy and are able to ask questions more on the Doctor's level.  Understand and review the OCT test results with your Retina Specialist.  Above all, do NOT let them blow you off...I am so tired of that happening to me.
Good luck, and keep us posted.  This may be something simple and easy to correct, but you have to find someone who is willing to help you troubleshoot.  
Helpful - 0
233488 tn?1310693103
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
This does not lend itself to a specific cause.  Given your history it's not likely a glasses problem and should be delt with by seeing an Eye MD ophthalmologist.

JCH MD
Helpful - 0
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