How did people in ancient times deal with poor eyesight?

 Most eye problems are refractive, and we now treat them with glasses. Of these there are those with:

Astigmatism: Usually this is "with-the-rule". This is a problem mainly with dim illumination and a big pupil. Being outside in the sunshine eliminates it. Even in the dusk, with-the-rule astigmatism is controlled by squinting. The ancient farmer didn't spend much awake time after sunset. When he got up early before dawn, he squinted.

Far sighted (hyperopia): This doesn't cause much of a problem until the patient is 40 years old. Not many ancient farmers made it that far, mostly because of shorter life spans. And after age 40, the problem is mainly for seeing things closer up. Views at distance remain good. After 40, he let his kids or grandkids sharpen his sticks or do other up close work. In ancient times, there wasn't much need for up close work.

Presbyopia: This one affects most of us with age. Around age 50 you can't see up close anymore. As mentioned above, our ancient ancestor probably didn't live past 50. If he did, like the hyperope, he would have needed help for any close work.

Near sighted (myopia): This is a biggy. If he had myopia, your ancient ancestor, around age 14, would not see well at distance. If he was a hunter or warrior he would have been a failure and died. Hopefully, he was part of a larger tribe and had a skill set that allowed him to work up close. He may have become the flint knapper. She would have sewed up the skins. If so, the tribe was in luck. When either turned 50, they would STILL be seeing well up close since myopia counters presbyopia. They would become the esteemed elders who passed along their skills to the next generation.

Serious non-refractive eye problems that can't be fixed with glasses anyway:

Glaucoma: Mostly a disease of age that blinds you after age 65. Few made it to that age.

Macular Degeneration: Mostly a disease of age that blinds you after age 75. Very, few made it to that age.

Diabetic retinopathy: They didn't have much diabetes back then. Not enough sugar or refined carbohydrates in the diet. And if you had diabetes, you weren't going to get insulin and live the 20 years that it usually takes before you lost vision from diabetic retinopathy.

An assortment of infections, injuries, etc. that are much less common but can take out an eye: These probably did lead to the loss of one eye and in the wild would have been fatal. But in a village, there are others to "watch your back". And with one eye, and some friends, you can do rather well.

Cataract: Another biggy. This is common after age 70 and the elders could have been blinded in both eyes. But only advanced cataracts really blind. Early ones cause milder visual impairments. And if someone made it to this advanced age, they must have had something else going for them. Their wisdom of village affairs and the local flora probably made them valuable and taken care of.

Obviously, there were other eye conditions that might have come up. But the above list accounts for 99% of what would have produced visual impairments. Part of civilization is the tending and caring for those individuals who would not have survived on their own. As you will note, few problems would have affected people in their youth and few people made it to old age. So most villages and tribes could have afforded to nurture the one elder who was blind and who had already earned the love and trust of that tribe.