My (22 F) story so far is pretty short - last year I had my first eye exam and got glasses for the tiniest bit of farsightedness. This past Monday I came back for my check-up expecting a new prescription and to get to pick some new frames. What I got instead was a referral to a retina specialist for "macular changes"...the optometrist tried to be very vague and it could be anything-ish, but typed "unspecified macular degeneration" in his computer...and the pictures of my retinas that he showed me looked grim to say the least. He told me my vision had dropped to around 20/40 and, by his measures, wasn't going to be correctable with glasses.

I see the retina specialist in a week, and I'm pretty nervous. I've done enough reading to know what kinds of tests I can probably look forward too, but the unknown is really getting to me. Assuming it is, in fact, macular degeneration of some sort, and assuming it's going to progress, as MD usually does, what do I do? At what point does it make sense to start, say, seeking low vision training - when I find out, or when my acuity worsens? I know it's very, very hypothetical and I might not end up needing to worry about any of it (besides my existing macular damage, which is minimal enough at the moment), but I guess I'm hoping that having a vague sense of what may be to come will help me chill out a bit.

Thanks in advance, everyone. I've been scrolling here a bit and can already tell you all rock.