Judi Dench battling blindness, diagnosed with macular degeneration
Posted on 02/18/2012 7:05:55 PM PST by SeekAndFind
British actress Judi Dench has said friends must read film scripts to her because she is gradually losing her eyesight to macular degeneration.
"I can't read scripts any more before because of the trouble with my eyes and so somebody comes and reads them to me, like telling me a story," she said.
The actress, who won an Oscar for her role in "Shakespeare in Love," said she can no longer see faces in front of her due to the condition, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.
"You get used to it. I've got lenses and glasses and things and very bright light helps. I can do a crossword if it's bright sunshine, but if a cloud comes out the next minute I can't see anything," she said.
Dench's mother also suffered the disease, which typically affects the elderly, the newspaper said.
Dench, 77, says she has been losing her battle with macular degeneration and has little eyesight left.
Age-related macular degeneration, known as AMD, affects nearly 240,000 people in Britain and is the leading cause of blindness in the world, the Mirror said.
Dench told The Telegraph injections seem to have arrested the degeneration in her eyes and she has no plans to retire.
Dench will be returning to her role as M in the next James Bond film, "Skyfall."
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
Her parody of 'I am 16, you are 17' is one of my favorites.
Cool old broad.
/johnny
Lookup Michael Nesmith (Fakebook’s good as any.) He lost and recently regained eyesight.
/johnny
A real shame. She is a brilliant actress and a very classy lady.
But she is good. I hate to see her in this shape, but it sounds like she's handling it.
Yes, I have a crush on a woman twenty(harumph) years my senior. I'm not ashamed to admit it.
/johnny
I have it. My mother went blind with it. My son has it. Mine is still very small and hasn’t grown lately. My son’s can hardly be seen by the doctor but she says it’s there. It’s genetic. Nothing to be done about it. I take vitamins and generally keep my health up. My mother smoked and so does my son and I think that exacerbates it.
Don't forget to stock up on Do It Yourself dental kits.
Check out her performance in the recent “Jane Eyre”.
Getting old sucks.
There are treatments to hang onto as much vision as you can. Anti-VEGF injections and laser treatments for example. Good to take AREDS II formulation vitamins - especially zinc and lutein and vitamin E. Smoking is the worst thing you can do.
Looks like retinal damage from not wearing sunglasses?
And the alternative is ....
My father and grandmother both had it. They too were very heavy smokers. With my genetic background I’m glad I quit years ago.
Corneal transplantation-
Macular degeneration by itself will not lead to total blindness. Only a very small number of people with visual impairment are totally blind. In almost all cases, some vision remains.
Because peripheral vision is not affected, people with macular degeneration can learn to use their remaining vision to partially compensate
Sorry to hear this. Dame Judi is a treasure.
AMD DROPS FROM ETHOSHEAVEN WILL CURE HER
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.