i am 23 years old and today my optometrist told me i will be blind in 5 years if i don’t start taking my eye drops.

hi all,

i kind of stumbled upon this subreddit in a panic this morning after my appointment with a new optometrist. for context, i was diagnosed with glaucoma at 18 in 2020, and although i took my drops regularly for awhile, i eventually got lazy, forgot to bring them to college, didn’t get refills, etc..

honestly, i didn’t even know what glaucoma was at 18 (and to be really honest, i didn’t have a good understanding of it until this morning). i had no idea how serious it really was, or what i was losing by not taking them.

this morning, when my new optometrist looked into my eyes, she told me straight up that i need to get it together or i will be blind before i’m 30. apparently in the 5 years since my diagnosis my eyes have sustained a lot of damage. we have a follow-up appointment in 2 weeks to see how my pressures look after i consistently take my drops.

i’m completely terrified and so angry with myself for not taking it seriously enough before. i’ve been crying on and off since then, scared that it’s too late, that even with my drops i’ll end up going blind. i keep looking to google for reassurance, and the websites say treatment will stop it from getting worse, but that small chance that i won’t be able to do anything about it is freaking me out!!

if anyone has any insight, reassurance or honesty for me please feel free to share - i really wanted to hear from people in a similar situation as me.

also, TAKE YOUR DROPS!!! don’t be stupid like me thinking just because you’re young it’ll be okay!

thank you <3