<p>Do any of you have experience with this issue. What exactly, using peripheral vision, will a person see? What type of accommodations are available/helpful? Is a guide dog necessary? Will the house need to be rearranged? Is TV watching and knitting still possible?</p>
<p>Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>My mother has this. Think of seeing the world with a disk in the middle of your vision. Peripheral is fine, but looking directly at anything will result in a blank space. When Mom lived with my sister, it drove my sister nuts. Mom wouldn’t see something in front of her or recognize a face but could pick up a needle from the table. She continues to do some word puzzles with a magnifying glass by looking down not in front of her. We have all kinds of magnifying glasses and small pocket flashlights around that seem to help. She now has a cataract in one eye that is having more impact on her than the AMD did. </p>
<p>We did not rearrange furniture. No guide dog needed since she could see fine in peripheral. She uses a cane now but that has more to do with her knees. They are making all kinds of advancements in treatments, has she seen a specialist? If early on, ARED vitamin mix for eyes has been shown to slow development. </p>
<p>Thank you. She has been taking the vitamins for a while. Has the ARMD in one eye and the ophthalmologist predicted she’ll have it within the “good” eye with in the next five years. Still driving. She has been referred to the local Council on the Blind. Thanks for the tips. This website. <a href=“http://www.amd.org/living-with-amd.html”>http://www.amd.org/living-with-amd.html</a>, seems to have lots of good practical advice.</p>
<p>My father has macular degeneration and is receiving monthly eye injection treatments. It is helping.</p>
<p>My father can’t see out of one eye due to macular degeneration. When his other eye started to show signs of problem, doctor recommended injections. He quoted a 94% success rate for injections – they don’t reverse macular degeneration but can stop it from getting worse. Treatments for my dad have gone well enough that he now only has to have shots every three months.</p>
<p>Macular degeneration may have a hereditary component. My eye doctor recommends that all of us sons and daughters take vitamin supplements with lutein. There have been some studies that suggest these vitamins can help prevent macular degeneration. I figure they can’t hurt.</p>
<p>NJ Sue, your father has what is called “wet form” AMD which is characterized by rapid, abnormal growth of blood vessels and which can be treated by injectable drugs (e.g., Macugen). The “dry form” AMD is the result of photoreceptor cell death due to overexposure to light (it is a complex process, but the main culprit is the blue light that causes formation of debris in the photoreceptor cells), and so far there are no drugs on the market that would restore vision in people affected with dry AMD. There are some companies that work to develop drugs that would slow down the vision loss progression. Eating a healthy fruit and veggie-rich diet and, more importantly, wearing sunglasses are the best preventive measures.</p>
<p>Has she seen a retinal specialist? I would. </p>
<p>Thank you for your comments. She has the dry form so for now there is no treatment. She is having problems, which is understandable, accepting the diagnosis of the ARMD in both eyes. She has been seeing a ophthalmologist at a university-based medical facility. We have been aware of the problem in one eye for quite some time. </p>
<p>My 84 year old mother has wet macular degeneration in both eyes. She bought a " reader" which has been life changing for her. it magnifies everything onto a screen, which she can customize by changing the size of the print, color background. She’s uses it daily, and it was worth the $3.000 price.</p>
<p>Yes. TV is watchable! my mother has to sit quite close, and surprisingly the larger the screen is not better. She can’t read any print on the tv screen, which is frustrating for her sometimes. </p>
<p>The thermostat is difficult for my mom to see, so she has a dial with very large size numbers.</p>
<p>A hand held lighted magnifier helps her sees cards- yes, she can play cards, which is amazing, because the central vision loss, prevents her from seeing faces, but she can use her peripheral vision to see the cards.</p>
<p>It is difficult to distinguish the colors of clothes, shoes - brown , black and dark blue look alike. More than once she has worn one black and dark blue shoe.</p>
<p>Fluorescent lights in stores can be annoying so she wears sunglasses. She is very photo sensitive.</p>
<p>My mother takes VIT EYES A vitamin supplement, she has delivered, suggested by her retinol specialist.</p>
<p>There are many helpful products and ideas via THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THR BLIND - here
<a href=“http://www.afb.org/info/about-us/1”>http://www.afb.org/info/about-us/1</a></p>
<p>Be prepared to explain to people about macular degeneration- many people don’t understand how debilitating it is!
Good luck - it’s not fun. </p>
<p>From the website listed above:
<a href=“http://www.visionaware.org/section.aspx?FolderID=6&SectionID=134”>http://www.visionaware.org/section.aspx?FolderID=6&SectionID=134</a></p>
<p>“There are two types of age-related macular degeneration: dry (atrophic) and wet (neovascular). It’s possible to experience the wet type in one eye and the dry type in the other; in addition, the dry type can progress to wet in approximately 10-15% of cases.”</p>
<p>“The dry type affects approximately 85-90% of individuals with AMD. Its cause is unknown, it tends to progress more slowly than the wet type, and there is not yet an approved treatment or cure. In dry AMD, small white or yellowish deposits, called drusen, form on the retina, beneath the macula, causing it to deteriorate or degenerate over time.”</p>
<p>“The wet type affects approximately 10-15% of individuals. In wet AMD, the choroid (a part of the eye containing blood vessels that nourish the retina) begins to sprout abnormal blood vessels that develop into a cluster under the macula. These new blood vessels tend to break, bleed, and leak fluid, causing the macula to lift up and pull away from its base. This results in a rapid and severe loss of central vision.”</p>
<p>I have family members with wet and with dry. For the wet, the reader helped immensely for a couple years and was worth every penny. </p>
<p>Thank you all. She is still having a hard time accepting the diagnosis of both eyes and doesn’t want to talk about it or even follow-up with the doctor for more specific information. She refers to herself as going blind, which I know is not correct, but I let it go. It will take a while.</p>
<p>Tsdad- my mother was so afraid macular degeneration would lead to " blindness", one day she asked her renown retinol specialist if she would end up blind.
He said " absolutely not" the central area would become darker, but she would not go blind!!!
What a relief for my mom to hear this from the dr!
Perhaps your mother doesn’t have to live with that fear, if she asks the question !!!</p>
<p>My husband’s grandmother is entirely blind now as a result of AMD, but she is 95 years old. </p>
<p>So it can happen, but doesn’t always. </p>
<p>^^^ did she have cataracts too? Or another condition ?</p>
<p>From this link. <a href=“http://www.rnib.org.uk/eyehealth/eyeconditions/conditionsac/Pages/amd.aspx”>http://www.rnib.org.uk/eyehealth/eyeconditions/conditionsac/Pages/amd.aspx</a>
“Wet and dry AMD have things in common. They usually affect both your eyes, though sometimes one eye may be affected long before the other. Both wet and dry AMD only affect your central vision and won’t affect your vision around the edge of your sight. So neither type of AMD will cause you to lose all your sight.”</p>
<p>My father also has it and is going progressively blinder. For awhile, having the font darker on the computer helped but even that is becoming difficult. He can no longer read except for a word or two with a special reader. Magnifying doesn’t help. He has been told that there is nothing that can be done and that he will go blind. It’s so sad. For now being in familiar surroundings help. Not sure how he will handle it when it gets worse but he’s 87 so not sure he will outlive the sight.</p>
<p>Everyone in my family who has had either wet or dry macular degeneration DID, in fact, go “blind”. The one with wet was for all practical purposes totally blind within 5 years and wet tends to be a more severe disease, the releative with the dry kind took longer HOWEVER there are very new treatments that were not available 7-10 years ago if started with an early diagnosis so the absolute best thing a newly diagnosed person can do is to consult with a good specialist. There are also treatments in the pipeline. I’m in my mid-fifties but because of the prevalence in my family, my eye doctor is asking me to come to annual appointments from now on. </p>
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<p>I am not aware of anything for dry. What are the new treatments?</p>
<p>Dry AMD treatments are still in clinical trials: </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.amd.org/research/dry-amd-research/dry-amd-clinical-trials/155-acucela.html”>http://www.amd.org/research/dry-amd-research/dry-amd-clinical-trials/155-acucela.html</a></p>
<p>My grandmother had a contraption she had used for close jewelry work- like goggles with super magnification and a light built in, fit around her head, Loved it. No idea what sort of ARMD she had, but the specialist recommended zinc. Recommended we all consider it as a supplement.</p>