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When your sight is fading
For people in the United States who are not seeing as well as they used to, or who have been told that glasses can’t fix it, and for the people beside them. The changes that are an emergency. What “low vision” means. Who to see, and what the eye exam is. What Medicare does and doesn’t pay for, and where eye care is free or low-cost. Vision rehabilitation. Small changes at home. Free audiobooks. Getting around. What you can ask for at work. Take only what you need today.
Right now
- A lot of new floaters, flashes of light, or a dark shadow or “curtain” over part of your vision? The National Eye Institute says retinal detachment is a medical emergency: go to your eye doctor or the emergency room right away. It says getting treatment right away can help protect your vision.
- Sudden trouble seeing, with a drooping face, a weak arm, trouble speaking or a sudden severe headache? Call 911. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists sudden trouble seeing among the signs of stroke.
- Intense eye pain, a red eye, nausea and blurry vision? The National Eye Institute says to go to your doctor or an emergency room now.
- Thinking about ending your life? Call or text 988, at any hour.
More help
- To get ready for the visit: Get ready for your appointment.
- No doctor, or no way to pay: When you need a doctor and can’t pay and When a medical bill is too much.
- Bigger print, and words read aloud: Read it my way, Easier to read and Speak for me.
- An eye that is hurt: When an eye is hurt.
- Diabetes: When blood sugar goes too low or too high.
- Later life: Help as you get older and When it gets hard to hear.
- At work: Ask for what helps you work.
- A card to carry: My emergency card.
- The loneliness: When you feel alone.
- All our free tools and Get help now.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- Applying for disability benefits: the two federal programs (SSDI and SSI), how to apply, and the appeals if you are denied.
- When the heaviness won’t lift: what depression is and the ways it can look that aren’t sadness, seeing a doctor, and finding help you can afford.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No eye doctor or lawyer has reviewed it, and it was not written by someone who is blind or has low vision: an AI has never seen anything, and cannot know what it is like to lose that. The facts come from pages read on October 6, 2026: the National Eye Institute (nei.nih.gov: Low Vision, updated November 25, 2025; Vision Rehabilitation, March 17, 2026; Retinal Detachment, November 5, 2025; Get a Dilated Eye Exam, November 26, 2025; Finding an Eye Doctor, December 10, 2024; Get Free or Low-Cost Eye Care, September 11, 2025; Keep Your Eyes Healthy, September 11, 2025; Age-Related Macular Degeneration, June 22, 2021; Cataracts and Glaucoma, August 19, 2026; Diabetic Retinopathy, September 11, 2025; Living with Low Vision, December 6, 2024); the National Institute on Aging (Aging and Your Eyes, reviewed July 28, 2021); Medicare.gov (routine eye exams; eyeglasses and contact lenses; glaucoma screenings; eye exams for diabetes; macular degeneration tests and treatment); the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled at the Library of Congress (its front page and How to Enroll); the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Visual Disabilities in the Workplace, issued July 26, 2023); ADA.gov (Communicating Effectively with People with Disabilities); the Social Security Administration’s listing 2.00 (the definition of blindness only); the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Signs and Symptoms of Stroke, May 19, 2026); MedlinePlus; the National Federation of the Blind’s Tools for Independence page; and the front page of Hadley. The page says whose words it is passing on, and what is marked “ours” is our own suggestion and not from any of these. What we did not read: the sites of the free and low-cost programs the National Eye Institute lists, Lighthouse Guild’s site, any state’s driving rules, law or Medicaid rules, what insurance pays for vision rehabilitation, Social Security’s benefit rules for people who are blind, guide dogs, paratransit, children’s vision, and any price. So the page does not describe them. We did not call any number. Numbers and coverage rules change: check with the source before you rely on one. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick or choose is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). It was checked by programs, not yet used by people, and not tested by anyone using a screen reader or a magnifier. To make the print bigger: Easier to read. Scarlet Beast is not a clinic, an optical shop, a law office or a government agency, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].