I havent gone through surgery (too scared of the odds of it getting worse) but my vision is getting steadily worse. Heres two things that help me when i cant handle my lack of sight it may help your friend. Just be there for her to vent her frustration about her situation. I vent to my mom. And show her Molly Burke on youtube. Her videos are so helpful and they really help in those dark moments.

I know you meant well, and I'm sure your friend took it that way, but there was a while when I was going through something very similar (fortunately most of previous vision did come back - though I was legally blind to start with) where I hated to hear people tell me how strong I was or how brave I was. I know they meant well, but it was like it was just this added pressure to be those things when what I really wanted to do was just sit in the dark and cry because everything was awful.

Sometimes things are just really hard and they suck and it's OK to not be brave or strong or amazing. It's OK to cry about it or to want to be alone or to be angry or to need to lean on others to get through it.

So I guess that would be my advice - to let her know that no matter what she's feeling, that it's OK and that you're there for her, whatever she needs, and that she doesn't have to put on a brave face. She can just be.

Molly Burke on YT is awesome! I recommend her channel as well.

What kind of eye surgery did your friend have? What country is she living in?

I've been legally blind since birth, and I have had eye surgery on each eye to remove cataracts and replace the lenses. It helped immensely! I was 38 years old when I noticed my eyesight was diminishing. Actually, all of the lightbulbs in my house seemed to be dimming. I really thought it was the lightbulbs. Then one day, in the spring, outside, I noticed if I closed one eye, a flower that was red looked purple, and if I closed the other eye, the same flower looked pink. THAT is when I realized something was going on with MY EYES, and not the world around me. Cataracts.

I had some laser surgery a few weeks ago which made things worse for me. The vitreous liquid in my left eye is separating, causing me to see this gauzy curtain thing moving in my field of vision all day long. Some laser surgery was done to remove a tiny fragment of a leftover piece of cataract from my eye. It made things worse because now I have a TON of floaters. Some are very small, making me see tiny black dots, and some are large, making me thing I'm seeing things on the counter, or walls, moving. Bats and rats, my dr. quoted. Yep. Bats and rats, that's how big some of the floaters are. I just have to live with it.

I hope your friend will find that with time, her recovery will get better.

Just be there for her when she needs someone.

I was born with ROP ,(retina of Prematurity). Im a twin and my retina in my right eye wasn't fully developed. (Most if not all twins are premature)

In 5 years I had six eye surgeries. The first one I had was to help my problem and stop it altogether so that whatever vision I had at the time wouldn't get worse. Two weeks later I was told the surgery didnt work as expected and they said I could try again, so I did. Well that surgery worked, but all it did was slow down my vision loss, which also led to other eye sight problems such as early stages of glaucoma.

Anyway, I w as s told my vision wouldn't stop getting worse. I was told that it could be as soon as 2 years or my lifetime for me to lose complete vision. I am 28 and although I cant drive, I am still doing the best I can. Yes, my vision hinders me, but I will not give up. I will keep doing the best I can with what I havd.

I have learned to embrace my vision loss, and I am hoping that your friend can as well. It is and will be hard, but I feel as if the sooner she accepts it the quicker she will learn how to live with it.

Help her stay strong, but let her cry when she needs too.

Just general advice that someone once shared with me is to just ask “I want to be a good friend. What’s the most helpful way I can support you?”

She may just want to hang out, go for a walk, run errands together, grab coffee or go to a movie (with descriptive audio).

Hi there, I would like to help. I know of technology that could help her with her eye problems and could possibly restore some of that lost vision if used correctly. Please, message me for more details. It is working for me and I have what sounds like worse vision than your friend may have.