Judi Dench Battles Blindness

 Actress Judi Dench reveals she's battling to save her sight.

Dench told the "Daily Mirror" newspaper that she had been diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition that can cause blindness.

In an interview published Saturday she said that her sight was already so bad she couldn't read her scripts and even had difficultly distinguishing the people she was dining with.

She admitted: "I can’t read scripts anymore because of the trouble with my eyes. And so somebody comes in and reads them to me, like telling me a story."

"It’s usually my daughter or my agent or a friend and actually I like that, because I sit there and imagine the story in my mind."

"I’ve got what my ma had, macular degeneration, which you get when you get old. I had wet in one eye and dry in the other and they had to do these injections and I think it’s arrested it. I hope so."

"The most distressing thing is in a restaurant in the evening I can’t see the person I’m having dinner with."


But the award-winning actress insisted she was determined not to let the condition beat her.

She told the "Daily Mirror": "You get used to it. I’ve got lenses and glasses and things and very bright light helps. I can do a crossword if it’s bright sunshine but if a cloud comes out the next minute I can’t see anything."

Despite her age, Dame Judi said she has no plans to retire.

She added: "As long as there is a possibility of working I’m not going to retire because if I retire nothing will work anymore and it’s hard enough as it is."