Have Macular Degeneration? What This Is And How An Ophthalmologist Can Help You
If your eye doctor has told you that you have macular degeneration in one or both of your eyes, the eye doctor may suggest that you see an ophthalmologist for eye care. Below is more information about what macular degeneration is, as well as what an ophthalmologist can do to help you.
Macular Degeneration
Macular degeneration causes you to lose your field of vision. This means you will not be able to focus on anything in front of you, such as someone's face, text from a book, or a television program. You will still maintain your peripheral vision, however.
The two types of macular degeneration are dry and wet. The dry type is the most common found. With dry, the center of your retina deteriorates. With the wet type, blood vessels that leak blood grow under your retina. Dry takes longer for you to lose your field of vision, while wet causes you to lose your vision much faster. In some cases, dry can turn into wet macular degeneration.
Macular Degeneration Treatment
Your eye doctor will send you to an ophthalmologist for treatment. Unfortunately, there is no treatment that will take care of this problem as once the damage is started there is no way to stop it. Still, there are treatment options available to help you along the way. For example, the ophthalmologist will tell you of vitamins you should take to help reduce the progression of this disease.
There is a surgery that can help known as laser surgery. The surgery is used to seal leaky blood vessels behind your eyes. The laser surgery treatment can slow down the progression of the disease so you can keep your focus vision for longer.
Laser treatment is used for wet macular degeneration. The doctor may use a hot laser, which seals the leaky blood vessels in your retina. Because the laser is hot, however, there is always the chance that tissues nearby can be damaged. Because of this, the doctor may start out with a cold laser to see if this will seal the blood vessels.
There are low-vision devices that you can use to help you see better while you are losing your focal vision. One of these devices is a special type of magnifying glass. Your ophthalmologist may also prescribe you a special type of glasses that you can wear while you are reading.
Reach out to ophthalmology services for more information about macular degeneration.
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