My mom (who's in her late 40's) hasn't been able to wear contacts at all for the last few years due to dry eyes. The doctor said it's a common part of the aging process, as your homones begin to change in your 40's it's common to develop dry eyes. So 43 may not be that old but it's a common age to develop dry eyes. There are a lot of special contacts and solutions made especially for dry eyes, but if you have a condition like astigmatism it may be harder to find such contacts.
I'm only 23 and I haven't been able to wear contacts for the last few years due to dry eyes, and that really surprised my doctor since such dry eyes are very uncommon for my age! He wondered if I was having hormonal problems which could cause dry eyes, but I don't think I am since everything checks out fine at the gyno and all. We've also ruled out allergies (I started taking allergy medication which almost completely cured my sinus headaches but didn't affect my dry eyes at all) and at that point I was using the same eye makeup, soap, etc. every day so it wasn't allergy to a new product. The only thing we could figure out is that I'm sleeping with my eyes partially open! That explains why my eyes are so dry they hurt when I wake up, but it doesn't explain why my eyes can't produce more tears throughout the day
The last time I tried contacts, I tried all those lenses and solutions for dry eyes, and the contacts would literally hurt (not just uncomfortable) 5 minutes after I put them, regardless of the time of day or use of eye drops! It was so weird because I had no problems before, the dry eyes developed fairly quickly!
So it is sad that I can't wear contacts anymore, but honestly I am getting used to it and don't think about it as much as I used to. My mom was also pretty upset at first, since she'd worn contacts since she was a teenager, but she's also gotten used to her glasses and we both just accept that glasses are a part of our appearances, like it or not!
If you find yourself wearing your glasses more often, you may want to splurge and buy a new pair that you really like (if you don't like your current pair) so you'll feel better when you do wear glasses! That helped me get used to wearing glasses!