<p>I’m not the one with the diagnosis, the OP is Kkmama. I have a mother who is legally blind, an aunt who receives eye injections for AMD and have my own eye issues, but not AMD at this point, thankfully.</p>
<p>I am crossing my fingers that it is the dry form and not the wet. Dry will keep me seeing longer. My churches are on a two-year plan to close, and I was hoping to be their pastor through the end of their ministry. If I leave for medical reasons they will probably speed up their closure dates.</p>
<p>Plus there isn’t enough ativan in the local pharmacy to get me through the eye injections that are used for wet AMD; I’ve driven home care clients to the doctor’s office and held their hands through the procedure and it seems awful. Then again, accelerated sight deprivation is worse.</p>
<p>Of course the degeneration is in my good eye - I have always been legally blind in the other. And reading is my drug of choice… time to find a new hobby.</p>
<p>Don’t give up on reading just yet - have you looked at the websites that have products for people with low vision and AMD? All sorts of magnifiers and other devices. </p>
<p>Yes, there are wonderful adaptive devices that can be used for many years. It runs in our family…wet and dry…and most people finally cannot use even the reading devices but they are in their late 80s before that occurs even though they had to give up driving much earlier. I have high hopes for better treatments soon. I am checked by my opthamologist every year now since I turned 55 because macular degeneration is so pervasive in my family. </p>
<p>Anyone who has older relatives with AMD could potentially be at risk of developing it. The best one can do is prevention. As EK said upthread, wear sunglasses religiously and eat your vitamins. The current hypothesis among ophthalmology researchers is that blue light triggers some chemical reactions in the eye cells that lead to formation of nasty pigment that even further damages the cells. I don’t leave the house with out my sunglasses, even here, in not so sunny Seattle! </p>
<p>Not so sunny?
Have you been out of town this summer BB?
I have been wearing a hat and sunglasses for water aerobics outside.
Sadly this is the last weekend.</p>
<p>And take AREDS2 formula vitamins.</p>
<p>I was taking those, except they have copper in them and I already have too much copper.</p>
<p>I was taking those, except they have copper in them and I already have too much copper.</p>
<p>“Not so sunny?
Have you been out of town this summer BB?”</p>
<p>I was kidding about that, EK! I really enjoyed the sunshine - in my sunglasses. 
</p>
<p>It is sad, but I think that technological solutions will come to the rescue of those with low vision sooner than pharmaceutical ones.</p>
<p>Sorry kkmama and rockvillemom. (post 19)</p>
<p>No worries - thanks for your concern.</p>
<p>MD here.
Macular degeneration (ARMD or AMD) did not have any good treatments until say 10 years ago. So your timing is very good. You need a retina specialist for evaluation and management.
- You need to take a special vitamin called “Ocuvite Preservision”. Bausch and Lomb may have bought out the Ocuvite company because you will also see it called “Bausch and Lomb Ocuvite Preservision”
- The new treatment that came out approximately 10 years ago was injection of medications into the eye of either Avastin, Macugen, or Eyelea. For the first time ever, retina specialists have a chance to actually preserve vision with these injections. It is truly vision sparing. Before the use of these medications, all that most MDs could do was just say “hang in there” and “take your Ocuvite preservision.”
Lastly, the injections into the eyeball don’t hurt very much (intravitreal injections). Not many nerves on the white part of the eye.</p>
<p>YoHo, I would like to clarify one thing: Avastin and the others you listed are anti-VEGF agents, which mean they work by suppressing blood vessel growth. This in turn means that they are designed to treat the “wet” form of the disease, but would not help anyone with the dry form that is not caused by overgrowth of blood vessels.</p>
<p><a href=“The Difference Between Wet and Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration - VisionAware”>http://www.visionaware.org/info/your-eye-condition/age-related-macular-degeneration-amd/wet-and-dry-amd/125</a></p>
<p>The weird thing is that I am only 55, and there is absolutely no one else in my paternal or maternal families that have had AMD. </p>
<p>I started taking the vitamins last week when I got the preliminary diagnosis, just in case it is the preferred dry form of the disease. I’ve driven people to get the injections for the “wet” form of the disease and so I know it’s not awfully painful, just freaky.</p>
<p>KKmama, please consider getting a few pairs of sunglasses! A $3 drugstore pair is about as good as a $600 chanel in blocking UV light as long as it is designed to block the right part of the spectrum (e.g. labeled UV400):</p>
<p><a href=“Ultra-violet and Blue Light Worsen Macular Degeneration - AMDF”>https://www.macular.org/ultra-violet-and-blue-light</a></p>
<p>And:</p>
<p><a href=“Pick the Right Sunglasses: Your Eye Health Depends on It”>Pick the Right Sunglasses: Your Eye Health Depends on It;
<p>I have always worn photogray lenses. but I’m sure my specialist will have more to say Wednesday.</p>
<p>In theory, blue blocking sunglasses would be better than photo gray.
Of course this is all theory based on a study of sailors getting mac degen from staring out at the blue ocean (if my aging memory serves me correctly) and then MDs and PhDs all theorizing that blue blocking sunglasses will help reduce the incidence of mac degen (blue blocking sunglasses will have a slight orange tint, if I remember correctly). Another theory is to increase your intake of green leafy veggies…</p>
<p>OY! I went to the eye hospital today and discovered that I was assigned to a glaucoma specialist due to a computer error. Too bad they did not send me to a cataract surgeon instead.</p>
<p>There is minimal damage to the retina, and no issues with blood vessels, so eye vitamins are the way to go for the spots on the retina. However, the optometrist has been totally missing the cataracts, which now explain all of my blurred vision. They’ve probably been there for a couple of years. So, GREAT news (well, once I’m on the other side of the surgery). </p>
<p>My eye pressure is elevated within normal standards, but the glaucoma doc says that should drop once I have the surgery.</p>
<p>Oh the irony! Talk about the case of what could have been received as bad news suddenly becoming the good news. Glad that your condition can be fixed. Good luck with the surgery! </p>