(www.PreserveMacForte.com) Eighty-seven-year-old Charlotte Moorehead believed she had near perfect vision… that is until a scheduled eye checkup revealed that she actually had age-related macular degeneration (AMD), reported the NWITimes.com on October 16.
According to the article, Moorehead, from Olympia Fields, Illinois, said that she was more than a little bit surprised to get the diagnosis, given that she had experienced “no pain” or other symptoms.
While Moorehead was “shocked” at the news, the article cited Dr. Christopher Kardasis, the ophthalmologist who treated Moorehead, as saying that it’s not uncommon for patients to be unaware that they have an issue in one of their eyes. He explained that patients often come in for checkups “with no complaints” due to the fact that their good eye often “compensates for the bad eye.” He explained in the article that this sort of situation happened to his mother-in-law, who only realized that she had a problem with one of her eyes when soap got into “her good eye,” leaving her unable to see from “her bad eye.”
The article noted that AMD adversely impacts over 1.75 million people in America. This means that more people suffer from AMD than those who suffer from cataracts and glaucoma combined. In fact, Dr. Kardasis said in the article that AMD is the top cause of blindness among people who are older than 65 years old.
According to the article, AMD is an incapacitating eye condition that can prevent people from watching television, obtaining a driver’s permit or reading a novel. Moorehead said in the article that she takes care of her husband and likes to read in her leisure time, which means that she definitely requires her eyesight.
There are two kinds of AMD, the wet type and the dry type. The article explained that the dry form is the most prevalent and also the least severe of the two. It causes people to experience vision loss in center of their field of vision. Wet AMD, which is what Moorehead was diagnosed with, includes swelling triggered by blood-vessel leakage that adversely impacts the macula.
Dr. Kardasis said in the article that dry and wet AMD can both lead to heightened fuzziness and reduced brightness of colors. Kardasis, who works at the Advocate South Suburban Hospital, added in the article that he offers Eylea treatment to wet AMD patients so that they don’t have to undergo more frequent drug injections into their eyes.
Moorehead, who has received the Eylea treatment, said in the article that it “worked for” her by allowing her to see better.