When my symptoms of dry eye were most severe, I was frightened,” says Penny Spokes, 71. “There’s a history of blindness in my family, so I was wondering what was happening and whether I would lose my sight.”

Mental health issues may not be the first thing an optometrist thinks about when a patient sits in the chair for an eye examination. However, an ocular condition can have an impact on someone’s mental health, no matter what degree of sight loss is involved, just as it did for Penny. 

“I have depression sometimes and when I’m not at my best, I tend to worry about things,” says Penny, who first had dry eye in 2015. Since then, she has also been diagnosed with corneal map dot dystrophy and developed a cataract in her right eye.

What are the mental health issues faced by patients across different age groups who experience vision loss, and what are the trusted ways for optometrists to communicate with those patients?