Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)

JustaSCOUNDREL

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A few years ago I was diagnosed with early onset AMD. It usually affects people with high diopter corrective near sightedness. What my Retinologist, an eye doc. who specializes on only the retina) calls egg shaped eyes. The retina is the part of the eye where the light is turned into nerve impulses that the brain turns it into vision.

Basically AMD is the blood vessels grow between the under body and the retina. They raise the retina and break the nerves that transmit to the brain essentially making that place in the eye unable to see. It can progress enough to make a person blind in both eyes.

When I was first diagnosed the only fix for the “WET” AMD was to laser the eye. That is what they did to my right eye. It fixed the progression but left me with 10-15% of my prior vision. My left eye had some vision loss from “Dry” AMD. Dry is different than the wet type but can become wet in some percentage of cases. That is what has happened to me. My dry recently was diagnosed as having become the wet type.

Now there is a very effective treatment with a 90% success rate and a 40% chance of improved vision. I’m receiving that treatment now. The treatment consists of a monthly injection directly into the eye over a three month period.

Understand I’m not whining, life is what it is and I’ll deal with it just fine. If you have a high diopter near sighted and in your late 40s II strongly recommend you see your Ophthalmologist for an evaluation.

Since ther are so many of us older folks here on Lit. and I’n sure most have experienced the decrease of vision that comes with aging.
With my poor vision it has become increasingly difficult to read things on my PC. Even Lit. has become hard for me to read to the point I seldom read stories here anymore.

Two days ago my wife sent me a link to a FREE app. That allows the vision impaired to read news articles without the side bars and extraneous junk and or to change the font or size to better enhance your reading experience. I used the white letters on a black background to read a full 5 Lit. page story today with no problem.

This is not spam. The app. Is free and I have no interest in who ever the company is.

http://evernote.com/clearly/

If I’ve violated some rules and the link is removed PM me and I’ll send you the link.

Mike
 
My son-in-law is a PhD currently working on research for Macular Degeneration.
Like most medical research in the UK his department is short on funding but he and many others around the world are working towards more effective treatments.

Unfortunately from discovery of a revised or new treatment to universal application takes years if not decades. :(
 
If you have a high diopter near sighted and in your late 40s II strongly recommend you see your Ophthalmologist for an evaluation.

Glaucoma is another reason to get regular eye checkups, especially with high myopia.

If cost is an issue to anybody, check whether there's a nearby university with an optom program; a lot of them offer free and thorough checkups.
 
Finally some USA health insurers have come round to the notion that offering a free wide-angle glaucoma test might save them a few bucks down the line. I just had one, and came out OK. Herself got diagnosed timely, and the treatment seems to be working.

Guys, take care of yourselves. You are your greatest asset.
 
Let me start this post with something I should have done over a month ago.

oggbashan, please thank your son in law for his effort and all of his hard work. I shall be ever grateful to him and all of the other researchers and scientists who have dedicated their time and efforts to successfully save my sight and keeping me from going totally blind.

O.K. Now for my up date. I finished my course of three injections of Avastin, the drug that has saved my vision, directly into my eye ball last month.

I returned today for an evaluation. All they did today was dilate my eyes and take some kind of pictures of the macula. The Doctor looked at my pictures and said the macula has returned to a normal profile. Which at this time says the degenerative process has been stopped. He wants to take another look in a month.

Today's exam included a vision test and my vision went from 20/100 in my good eye to 20/70. Obviously not the best but a lot better than four months ago. There is a minor surgical procedure they can do in a few months that may bring my vision to the point where I may be able to drive again.

For those of you that may be squicked about a needle in your eye there was absolutely no pain with the injection. Lots of deadening stuff first.

First injection there was mild post injection discomfort. Still I slept through the night and a woke feeling fine.

The second injection there was zero discomfort post injection.

For the third injection there was three or four hours very mild discomfort. Really just an awareness something was not quite normal, but nothing bad.

I'll end this post the same way I ended my first one,

If you have a high diopter near sighted and in your late 40s I strongly recommend you see your Ophthalmologist for an evaluation, not just an Optometrist but an Ophthalmologist.

Mike
 
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I am so very glad to hear about your success story...I don't think I have AMD, but you are correct in stating that us 40 somethings need to get checked out. Thank you for sharing and I hope your progress continues....:)
 
I returned today for an evaluation. All they did today was dilate my eyes and take some kind of pictures of the macula. The Doctor looked at my pictures and said the macula has returned to a normal profile. Which at this time says the degenerative process has been stopped. He wants to take another look in a month. Today's exam included a vision test and my vision went from 20/100 in my good eye to 20/70. Obviously not the best but a lot better than four months ago. There is a minor surgical procedure they can do in a few months that may bring my vision to the point where I may be able to drive again. Mike

I'm glad to hear the treatment is working! 20/70 is not only better than 20/100 but also an infinite improvement over virtual blindness, which is where all macular degeneration ended only a few years ago. I'll keep my fingers crossed for your future surgery, and hope to see a post in a few months that it has been a success.

If you have a high diopter near sighted and in your late 40s I strongly recommend you see your Ophthalmologist for an evaluation, not just an Optometrist but an Ophthalmologist.
Or even earlier. I have an extremely near-sighted intern who was recently diagnosed with macular degeneration at the age of 31. Luckily, she was seeing an opthalmologist instead of an optometrist because of her "Coke bottle" eyeglass scrips. I'm not knocking optometrists--they do a fine job fitting glasses and testing for glaucoma, but it's worth a few extra bucks for everyone to see a eye specialist with an MD every couple years or so. Eyes are light years beyond precious.
 
EdwardMidweston Thank you for your good wishes and the interesting information. I'm only 48 and they call mine early onset AMD. I had no idea it could strike someone as young as 31.

TC 999, thank you for the posts I had no idea they were as clopse to developing those devices as they seem to be.

Thank you both.

Mike
 
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