Question:
I am 70 years old, and have had macular degeneration in my left eye for
nine years
and was told that the disease was also in my right eye, even though I
have no
symptons. I had four treatment s with laser years ago, with no
improvement,
it is the wet type.
Just recently heard about a new treatment with a medication called
visudyne.
I am going to look into it. Does anyone have more information on this.
Answer:
The process itself is relatively simple: Lots of photos of your eye, an
injection, the treatment itself, which is probably similar to what you've
already undergone, and orders to stay away from sunlight for the next few
days because your entire body is sensitive to sunburn.
My mother-in-law (84) just had two visudyne treatments at the Doheny Eye
Institute in Los Angeles as part of the FDA approval process. The first
was last November and the second was 3 months later. I'm sorry to say that
except for what might have been a temporary improvement in her vision (she
said she could actually see her face in the mirror rather than just a
shape) the day after the first treatment, it did no good at all. She
started out writing shopping lists with 1-inch-high letters, and that's
what they still look like. Going in she could not read the E at the top of
the eye chart, but did see that there was a lighter spot on the wall where
the chart was. Same thing at her last exam a few weeks ago. In both cases
she eventually discerned the E by moving her eyes and head around.
She had had cataract surgery in both eyes. Her MD came on suddenly -- at
one point she closed her good eye and realized that the other eye had gone
blind, but she didn't know when. Too late for that one, the scarring was
irreparable. Then a while later she had the secondary capsule mumble
mumble laser treatment on her good eye, and a few weeks/months later that
eye went bad too.
Doheny was participating in the visudyne study, which was about to be
approved by the FDA. I suspect that they just accepted her as a
revenue-enhancement feature, because her medical insurance and medicare
paid for part of both treatments. It seemed pretty clear to me that she was
a guinea pig, not a paying customer, but I could be wrong about this. They
asked her to do a re-enactment for the CBS news cameras (it was actually
shown on TV the next month), which made her eye hurt for several days (they
actually applied the thingy that touches the eye), and they gave the
impression that the procedure was a roaring success. I find that part
truly disgusting.
Anyway, the experience has been miserably disappointing to her. Obviously
YMMV, and I sure hope it does. I'm sorry to say that I would not recommend
Doheny. We took her there because of what I had thought was a first-class
reputation. The doctors themselves may be first-rate, but the organization
is dismal -- it's as if they fired all the secretaries who knew how to keep
things running efficiently :-(
I guess my best recommendation is to find somebody who cares about YOU
rather than the results of a study. My very best wishes to you...
