My eyes have gotten better with age.

[barnetmill]

Today ran errands that included a trip to the tax office to pay the county and state my yearly rent that they call property taxes. Gave them a check because a credit card charges 2.5% of the total.
Then ran over to wally world and stopped by the vision center for an over due eye exam; I think it has been 4 or more years.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my far vision was almost 20-20 and that is with astigmatism. I have noticed over the years that my far vision has been getting better and I used to be quite near sighted. I was told sometime ago that I have cataracts and apparently the cataracts have not done anything and I was told likely it would be years before I would need an operation. I am 77. My close vision has suffered, but I still can read most small print without glasses.
I opted out for the more expensive nikon lens that at apparently at arms length distance relative to distance focus allow better vision. Since that is about iron sight distance I opted out for it and those lens are $360 but that is not a big deal.

[steve_k]

Good news indeed!

[Gunstore Commando]

I wore glasses since I was nine years old. Couple years ago, it felt like my glasses were getting too strong. Next time I took a DL exam, I tried it without glasses. Pass. Never worn glasses since. Probably not 20-20, but good enough for me...

Eye doc once told me that this kind of improvement with age isn't particularly uncommon.

[Shooter Ready]

Most middle aged people have some prescription changes from early cataract. When you see an optometrist, they will be delighted to sell you some nice lenses. Plenty of people have hyperopic shift where they get more farsighted as the cataracts grow. Many others become much more nearsighted and their prescription gets much stronger.

Contrast sensitivity and night driving are better signs of cataract changes compared to reading the high contrast Snellen eye chart in the office. Plenty of old guys put off fixing their cataracts because they can manage with their vision. When they get them fixed (finally), they are surprised by how much better they can see when they don't have a cloudy lens blocking light from getting to their retina.

It is really a bimodal distribution. There are those who want to regain the vision they had when they were younger, and there are more who like to get close to the street signs before they can see them.

[barnetmill]

Most middle aged people have some prescription changes from early cataract. When you see an optometrist, they will be delighted to sell you some nice lenses. Plenty of people have hyperopic shift where they get more farsighted as the cataracts grow. Many others become much more nearsighted and their prescription gets much stronger.

Contrast sensitivity and night driving are better signs of cataract changes compared to reading the high contrast Snellen eye chart in the office. Plenty of old guys put off fixing their cataracts because they can manage with their vision. When they get them fixed (finally), they are surprised by how much better they can see when they don't have a cloudy lens blocking light from getting to their retina.

It is really a bimodal distribution. There are those who want to regain the vision they had when they were younger, and there are more who like to get close to the street signs before they can see them.
It was explained to me that my cataracts at least in this doctors opinion had not yet progressed enough to be causing significant problems, but it could change with time. Bottom line was an operation was not called for this time. Conditions like diabetes will speed it up. For some reason it appears that I am very healthy and always appeared to be about 10 years or so younger than my age.
I will get the new prescription in about a wk and I will see how the glasses are. One thing that can cause problems is if the glass lenses do not correctly duplicate the prescription and apparently this happens at times. I assume lenses are made on computer controlled equipment these days and errors should not be that common.
I have not yet noticed problems with the halos that my mother had when hers were done when she her in her 80's. She decided at 98 that she should quit driving due to other reasons relative to reaction and awareness. She now uses Uber.