AceShowbiz -

Oscar-winning actress Judi Dench revealed that she is losing her eyesight to a condition called macular degeneration. The 77-year-old told Daily Mirror that due to the illness, she struggles to make up faces although the person stands right in front of her, and has difficulty in reading at the same time.

"The most distressing thing is in a restaurant in the evening I can't see the person I'm having dinner with," she said. "...I know there might be something going on but sometimes I can't see it and that infuriates me as I think I'm really missing out on something."

She also needs an assistance when reading scripts in order to memorize her lines. "I can't read scripts anymore because of the trouble with my eyes," Dench was quoted as saying. "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."

Nevertheless, the British actress has no plan to retire. "As long as there is a possibility of working I'm not going to retire because if I retire nothing will work any more and it's hard enough as it is," she said. She is filming the seventh Bond movie, "Skyfall", in London.