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Can Eye Glasses for Macular Degeneration Help Me?

Can Eye Glasses for Macular Degeneration Help Me?

Wet AMD

Wet AMD

Regular eye glasses cannot fix vision damaged by age-related macular degeneration, an example of which is shown here. However, other optical aids may help you to perform your everyday tasks.

If you have age-related macular degeneration (AMD), you will most likely experience at least some deterioration in your vision over time. How fast vision declines and how much is lost varies among AMD patients. Declining vision or even significant vision loss, however, does not mean you cannot continue to lead an independent life and do the things you enjoy. Help is available.

When you first notice that poor vision is interfering with daily living, tell your eye doctor. He or she may be able to help by changing the strength of the glasses you already wear. When you have macular degeneration glasses may have to be adjusted frequently. While this can be handled by your optometrist or ophthalmologist, you may reach a point where your regular glasses no longer provide a satisfactory level of vision. When this happens, you should seek out a low vision specialist and/or a vision rehabilitation specialist.

What are Low Vision Specialists and Vision Rehabilitation Specialists?

Low vision and vision rehabilitation specialists are professionals trained specifically to help people like you who have poor vision ("low" vision) caused by an eye disease such as AMD. They conduct a different kind of eye exam than your regular eye doctor. They use special eye charts and tools designed especially for evaluating low vision. Their main goals are to evaluate your usable vision, talk with you about what tasks or activities you are having trouble performing, and teach you how to use visual techniques and optical and other devices that can help.

One visual technique you can learn allows you to "look around" areas of your vision that are damaged. This skill is called "eccentric viewing." When you learn eccentric viewing, you make use of parts of your retina that are still healthy in order to see. Learning how to do it takes a lot of practice and several training sessions, but many people are amazed at the level of functioning they can maintain.

In addition to visual techniques such as eccentric viewing, these specialists can advise you about adjustments to your living space that make completing your daily tasks safer and easier. Examples of such adjustments are numerous and include different types of lighting, safety devices for appliances and furniture re-arranging. You can also have mobility training to help you walk safely indoors and out or up and down stairs.

While these specialists do not have magic macular degeneration glasses that can restore your sight, they do have a wide range of optical devices that can help you make the best of whatever vision you have. Many are worn like eye glasses, but actually contain prisms or microscope or telescope-like parts. In macular degeneration glasses like these can be a great help for seeing things that are close up or far away.

Glasses with special tints can also be very useful for you. This kind of eye glasses for macular degeneration, which can be worn over your regular glasses or instead of them, reduce glare indoors and outdoors. You may have already begun to notice what a problem glare can be.

Many other optical devices, beyond these types of eye glasses for macular degeneration, may also be of use to you. Hand-held magnifiers, head-mounted viewing devices and special cameras are available to assist you with almost any task or activity you can think of. Beyond optical devices and special macular degeneration glasses, a variety of other tools are available. These include large television remote controls, talking watches and clocks, software that reads the computer screen to you, and guides for writing checks and letters.

Low vision and vision rehabilitation specialists can introduce you to all of your options - eye glasses for macular degeneration and so many others - help choose the best ones for you, and teach you how to use them.

How Can I Find a Specialist?

To find a low vision specialist or vision rehabilitation specialist near you, start with your regular eye doctor. He or she should be able to provide a list of local possibilities. You can also ask a friend or relative to help you look in the phone book or on the Internet. Many national organizations, such as Lighthouse International and the Lions Club, can help direct you. Others, at the state or county level, whose names may include "office on aging" or "assistive technology," offer financial assistance or loans for purchasing low vision devices. In addition, Medicare now covers some aspects of vision rehabilitation.

Hope for the future? New clinical trials.

NeoVista, Inc. is a company that is developing an intraocular epiretinal radiation device intended for the treatment of the wet form of age-related macular degeneration. If you, or someone you know, are interested in participating in the CABERNET Trial, please follow the link below:

Learn more about the CABERNET Trial

 

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