For me, a bad eye day often just means I need to get a little more sleep, to drink water and/or to use mild eye drops for moisture. But mainly I just try to take a nap etc.

A friend of mine is barely able to see a bright LED flashlight in front of her face on bad days, but able to read large print most days.

It's awful, especially since you can't exactly get used to it or predict it enough to warn people.

As awful as it is, the best things to do are let it roll of your back like it doesn't bother you. Most sighted people don't understand levels of blindness, and throwing in that you can not be as blind on some days just completely throws them for a loop.

If you can, take the time to sit with them and talk it out, about how you can see good, or relatively good, some days, in some light, if they're wearing a certain color, if the moon and sun align just right and Jupiter is in retrograde... et cetera. Then explain that on bad days, you can only see light, or only a blob, or whatever you can see. If you don't want to, though, don't feel obligated. If they choose to be ignorant, it's not your job to teach them.

There are ways to help manage, though your eye condition will indicate which strategies may work better. Are the cataracts your only eye condition? If no, environmental lighting and general fatigue can cause fluctuations in vision. Often fluctuations is due to visual fatigue.

Some strategies for reducing visual fatigue:
- use sunshades when changing lighting environments

- regularly wearing indoor tints can be helpful too

- try changing your focal distance every 20 mins for 20 seconds (sometimes closing your eyes completely can help),

- use a color modification on screens (like inverted colors or overall tints) to delay fatigue

- use audio when print reading isn’t necessary


As far as explaining to people fluctuating vision, that’s an art. Many people do not understand low vision. They think either someone sees nothing or they just need better glasses. Finding a way you’re comfortable explaining your vision loss can help. One tip I use is to ask people to imagine being in a dark room. The dimmer the light gets the less clarity there is and the harder it is to distinguish colors and objects etc. Or they can think about when it’s raining and light bounces off everything differently making it harder to see. Low vision can be like that except it’s not coming from lack of lighting or the environment but from the eye condition.

Howl that helps!

I also have bad eye days. Lots of things factor into it. You aren’t crazy and you aren’t faking. It is a real situation that happens to many of us.

Yes, I get bad eye days.
Causes seem to be tiredness, allergens, onset of a cold, hormonal changes or just strained eyes from trying to do too much.
Everyone has fluctuations in their vision but to the already impaired, it has more of an impact. The threshold of copsbilty is much more pronounced. So already compromised vision suffers much more from a relatively minor fluctuation.
I accept my bad eye days for what they are and adjust my schedule accordingly.. same with headaches - they tell me I’ve pushed myself too hard, or circumstances have been too overwhelming for me, so it’s painkillers and rest until it passes

Yep, I also have good and bad days. It comes down to how tired I am, so I try sleep alot, though my body doesn't always cooperate. Things are also worse in the arvo than the morning, and after periods of intensely use e.g. Reading print smaller than is comfortable.

I have similar situations. Have you talked to your doctor?