Sir Elton John reflects on 'devastating' health troubles
Sir Elton John has explained how he's faring after losing sight in his right eye.
Sir Elton John has endured a "challenging" 15 months since losing sight in his right eye.
The 78-year-old star contracted an eye infection while in France in the summer of 2024, which left him blind in his right eye - but Elton is determined to remain optimistic about his long-term prospects.
Speaking to Variety, Elton explained: "It’s been devastating. Because I lost my right eye and my left eye’s not so good, the last 15 months have been challenging for me because I haven’t been able to see anything, watch anything, read anything.
"I’ve had the most incredible life, and there is hope. I’ve just gotta be patient that someday science will help me with this one. Once they help me with this one, I’ll be fine.
"It’s exactly like the AIDS situation. You mustn’t give up hope, you must be stoic, you must be strong and you must always try and batter the door down to try and improve things."
David Furnish, Elton's husband, has also retained an optimistic outlook.
David is hopeful that a scientific breakthrough could prove to be crucial for Elton.
He said: "We’ve been doing some treatments and there’s been some improvements in his left eye, which is really good, and we’re continuing to explore and getting a lot of outreach from a lot of doctors who want to help and support. Because there’s damage to the retina in his right eye, retinas don’t heal naturally, so it’s an area of emerging science.
"But things are changing really quickly. What AI is doing for medicine and science alone is astonishing. And there’s all kinds of interesting new theories and breakthroughs, and they can process the data and do the trials a lot more quickly than they could before."
Elton previously insisted that he feels "lucky", despite his health troubles.
He told the Guardian newspaper: "I’m an optimist permanently.
"I’ve got bad eyesight at the moment. There have been days where I’ve been miserable, but then I think about how lucky I am."
