Quote:
Originally Posted by glend
I found out a few weeks ago that I have the early stages of macular degeneration in my right eye. I had known there was something wrong with my vision in that eye for a while, and thought I just had one eye better than the other for astronomy. As I wear glasses I thought perhaps I just needed a script change, and sure enough the script had changed for that eye, but it was the retina photo that revealed the true nature of the problem. So now I have to see a specialist in the new year to get a prognosis on this problem. Of course there is no 'cure' once you have it, and it is responsible for something like 70% of vision impairment in us older folks (it is not related to Cataracts - which is the clouding over of the eye lense which can be repaired by surgery). The macular is responsible for the fine detail you can see looking directly at something, as opposed to averted vision, or peripheral vision. It means, for observational astronomy, a gradual loss of ability to see the detail in the eyepiece. Luckily for me, I still have a good left eye - for now; but in most cases if it happens in one eye then eventually the other eye will be involved as well.
Once I see the specialist I will know more about the timeframe I can expect for the degeneration, for now the lost of detail in my right eye is only a minor issue as I don't have the dreaded grey spot in my central vision, just the slight blurring/distortion of the detail there.
I have already shifted to mainly imaging, which is not as demanding as eyepiece sessions. Last night I went out to the observatory at 2:30 for a visual session with Jupiter (with my left eye) as I now know that every opportunity must be utilised.
Just wanted to ask if there are any other IIS members adapting to this problem and what they are doing to continue with astronomy.  |
you are not alone Glen. looks to me like imaging is the way to get a few more years