Judi Dench Opens Up About How Vision Loss Has Affected Her Career

Judi Dench discussed her struggles with macular degeneration and its effects on her career.

Dame Judi Dench's deteriorating eyesight has put a bit of a dent in her career plans.

The British actress opened up about the long-term effects macular degeneration is proving to have, especially in regards to her acting career.

"It has become impossible and because I have a photographic memory, I need to find a machine that not only teaches me my lines but also tells me where they appear on the page," Dench, 88, shared on the Feb. 17 episode of The Graham Norton Show, per People. "I used to find it very easy to learn lines and remember them. I could do the whole of Twelfth Night right now."

Macular degeneration, which is related to age, in Dench's case, affects the retina and causes a loss of central vision, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Peripheral vision remains intact, but no matter how close or far the object right in front of the eye is, fine details are impossible to make out.

And, as the Shakespeare in Love actress detailed, not being able to clearly see her scripts and where the lines are in relation to each other has become an obstacle for her memorization.

Still, it hasn't held her up too much. Dench was first diagnosed in 2012, and at that point, she was already unable to read her lines properly. She's racked up more than two dozen credits since then.

And when asked if she was ever going to retire in an interview with Parade in 2017, she noted, "I don’t plan it. But if I stay quietly, very watchfully, and wait, if I’m very lucky, something comes along."

This episode of The Graham Norton Show airs at 5:40 p.m. EST. Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Hugh Jackman, Michael B. Jordan, Eugene Levy, and P!nk will also appear.