Dame Judi Dench’s eyesight is so bad she can’t watch TV or stage shows.
The 90-year-old actress suffers from macular degeneration – which can cause permanent and rapid central vision loss and is the number one cause of vision loss in people over 50 – has revealed the impact of the condition on her everyday life.
Speaking at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds – of which she is patron – she said: “I can’t see any more.
“When I go to the theatre, I can’t see. Hopeless.”
She has even struggled with television, and admitted she hasn’t been able to actually see her friend Dame Celia Imrie on the BBC’s Celebrity Traitors series.
However, she added: “Somebody told me what was happening. I want to hear the dirt that went on.”
Dame Judi first revealed in 2012 she is suffering with macular degeneration in her eyes, and in January the veteran actress gave a bleak update on her condition.
In an episode of Trinny Woodall’s Fearless podcast, she explained: “Somebody will always be with me. I have to now because I can’t see and I will walk into something or fall over.
“I’m always nervous before going to something.
“I have no idea why… I’m not good at being on my own at all, nor would I be now. And fortunately, I don’t have to now because I pretend to have no eyesight.”
During a 2021 event for the London-based Vision Foundation, Dench opened up about how she has been battling to read scripts due to her rapidly fading vision.
She said: “You find a way of just getting about and getting over the things that you find very difficult.
“I’ve had to find another way of learning lines and things, which is having great friends of mine repeat them to me over and over and over again.
“So I have to learn through repetition, and I just hope that people won’t notice too much if all the lines are completely hopeless!”
What is AMD?
The macula is a small but critical area at the very centre of the retina (the light-sensitive tissue lining the back of your eye) that allows us to see fine detail – reading, recognising faces, watching TV.
In AMD, this macular region becomes damaged. There are two broad types:
Dry (atrophic) AMD – more common, slower progression, characterised by thinning of macular tissue and accumulation of drusen (yellow deposits).
Wet (neovascular) AMD – less common but more severe, involving abnormal blood vessels under the retina that leak fluid or bleed, causing more rapid vision loss.
Although AMD primarily affects central vision, peripheral vision remains intact. So it does not typically lead immediately to complete blackness but does make many everyday tasks much harder – driving, reading, seeing someone’s face clearly.
Age is the single greatest risk factor – the incidence rises steeply after age 50. Other modifiable risks include smoking (which significantly increases risk) and certain diet/lifestyle factors.
How many Australians are affected?
It is estimated that over 1.9 million Australians have some evidence of macular disease (which includes AMD and other macular conditions).
Specifically for AMD, about 1.5 million Australians are living with some evidence of AMD. That works out to roughly 1 in 7 Australians aged 50 years and older showing signs of AMD. In older age groups the prevalence rises markedly. For example, one study found that the prevalence of late AMD in participants aged 80-plus was 6.7 per cent in a non-Indigenous Australian sample.
Looking ahead, the number of Australians with some evidence of macular disease is projected to rise to around 2.1 million by 2030, if prevention and treatment efforts are not scaled up.
Why this matters for Over-60s
AMD is the leading cause of irreversible blindness and severe vision loss in Australia. Among older Australians, AMD accounted for roughly 28 per cent of cases of visual impairment (excluding easily correctable refractive error) in one recent report. Given the ageing population, the burden of AMD is set to grow – meaning for anyone over 60, attending regular eye checks, understanding risk factors, and early detection matter more than ever.
Key takeaway
If you are over 60 (or approaching that age-bracket), it’s wise to view AMD as a high-prevalence, serious eye health condition – not something that only “other people” get. While there’s no cure for the more advanced forms of AMD, early detection and lifestyle risk-factor management can significantly affect outcomes. Regular check-ups with your optometrist or ophthalmologist are important.