Koby Brown said last year he was meant to be seen by a specialist every six months.
However, delays in getting his appointment meant it took 10 months, in which time he lost the sight in one eye.
Mr Brown (23) had been diagnosed three years before with juvenile glaucoma, a hereditary condition.
Yesterday, the Southern District Health Board apologised to 23 people who lost some of their sight.
The apology came after an independent review showed ophthalmology departments in Dunedin and Invercargill lacked the capacity to deal with patient numbers.
The SDHB said the number of overdue patients would be zero by September.
Mr Brown said it was ''all well and good'' hearing what the board was going to do.
Having gone to Southland Hospital in Invercargill, it was evident some work had been done.
The service there had moved, and more people had been employed.
''But the thing is, the backlog is so great at the moment that even though they've employed more people, they're not going to catch up very easily.''
Mr Brown, who works on a Mataura farm, said it was good to see the SDHB was finally acknowledging there was a problem.
''But from reading the report, and the findings of the report, this problem should have been brought up at least three or four years ago.''
Asked whether the board's apology helped, Mr Brown said he had heard ''apology after apology''.
''To me, no apology is good without any follow-up.''
It was evident something was being done, but it was not being done quickly enough.
He did not believe the SDHB would get the overdue list down to zero by September.
''I've lost a big part of my life out of it,'' he said of his experience with the hospital.
Mr Brown said he hoped his sight would not get worse, but from his understanding gained over the last few years ''it probably will''.
''I'm never going to get the sight back in my other eye unless they come up with some sort of dramatic medical breakthrough.''
