Ways To Find Help For Your Macular Degeneration

Are you having a bit of trouble reading? Is it difficult to recognize people from a distance? Do objects look blurry? If the answer to any of the questions is 'Yes' then perhaps you are exhibiting symptoms of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is the main cause of blindness for people above the age of 55. This progressive disease slowly damages our retina, which is the inner lining in the back of our eye which helps us in sending images to our brain. Our macula is made up of cells which are present in the middle of the retina and are responsible for our clear central vision, which is the type we use to read and drive.

Generally, two common types of AMD are found to occur in humans - Dry macular and Wet Macular type. The dry form happens if cells which fuel our retina begin to degenerate or stop working as they should be. Over a period of time, dry AMD tends to cause vision blurring. The second type, the wet form, which is far more serious, happens mainly because of abnormal blood vessels found underneath our retina. These blood vessels can cause rapidly decreasing vision due to bleeding or leakage. In many cases, scarring takes place, which results in complete loss of our central vision.

Till recently, available treatments could only stop the disease from causing further degeneration. However, a drug recently approved by the name of Ranibizumab (Lucentis), is showing a lot of promise in being of great help in actually reversing the effects of AMD in patients.

Robin Ginsburg, MD, and professor of ophthalmology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine says that "The drug not only stabilizes the disease, but can actually improve vision, too," Largely a vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor, Lucentis is a new drug which prevents new blood vessel growth from taking place in the area behind our eye. It is the first such drug which has actually shown improved vision over a large array of patients. Clinical trials have seen more than 40 percent improvement in people using Lucentis for more than a year with improved vision, allowing patients to read more letters and lines clearly on eye examination charts. Lucentis seems to successfully work for more types of wet AMD than any other treatment which is currently available, says Dr. Ginsburg.

Another anti-VEGF drug, Macugen, has also already been approved for treatment of Age related Macular Degeneration, and also showers hope in slowing down AMD progression. However, it must be noted that there are some pitfalls to using these newer sight-saving drugs. Both of these drugs have to be administered directly into the eye through an injection around once around every 4 to 6 weeks. There are also a few side effects such as swelling of the eye and pain, dots or clouds visible in front of the eye, possible cataract, retina detachment, and serious eye infections, not to mention the fact that they cost around $2000 for one sitting.

A Few Simple Things You Can Do To Help You Adjust With AMD Have a chat with your doctor regarding vision therapy. This therapy could help you to learn newer ways through which you can handle simple chores like cooking or reading a newspaper. You can also begin using a magnifying glass or a book magnifier to help you read books and newspapers easily. You can also opt for large-print books, or switch to audio books.