Here's Looking at You

At my annual eye exam last month, my optometrist detected a new problem - my right eye showed the earliest stage of macular degeneration, one of the major causes of blindness and visual impairment in people age 50 and older.

I was upset to learn that I had a condition that could impair my vision, but Dr. H reassured me that detecting the macular degeneration so early meant progress of the disease could be considerably slowed, and even at the later stages, there were treatments available.

He recommended that I begin taking a specially formulated vitamin supplement (the white capsules shown above), the development of which came out of a 10-year clinical trial on age-related macular degeneration at the National Institutes of Health (part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. These supplements may delay the onset of advanced macular degeneration, and are a good all-around multivitamin, as well.

Dr. H also gave me the small grid in today's blip, known as an Amsler grid. I'm to look at the grid every day, covering each eye in turn, and if I note any changes in how the lines appear - suddenly seeing some of the lines as bent, distorted, or missing - I'm to call my eye doctor at once.

I hadn't given any thought to macular degeneration before all this, other than being surprised recently when one of my cousins, just a year older than me, told me she had it (early stage, like me). Family history is among the risk factors, as is being Caucasian. Smoking increases the risk of macular degeneration two-fold; I've never smoked, but both of my parents did, so I grew up in second-hand smoke, which may have raised my risk.

Macular degeneration gradually destroys the most sensitive part of the retina, the macula, that provides sharp, central vision needed for seeing objects and faces clearly. I have the early stage of the dry form, which is less severe and has three stages (early, intermediate, and advanced). The dry form always precedes the more severe wet form, which affects about 10 percent of people with age-related macular degeneration.

Knowledge is power, and with eye exams every three months so Dr. H can monitor this new condition and adherence to the vitamin supplements and grid check each day, I'm hopeful that I'll be seeing well -- and blipping! -- for a long time.