View Single Post

  #2 (permalink)  
Old 04-09-2007, 06:56 PM
southernserendipiti southernserendipiti is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1
Default

Your question intrigued me. My uncle was recently diagnosed with macular degeneration, although I do not know if it is "wet" or "dry." I found the following treatments for wet macular degeneration. I hope you don't mind that I'm cutting and pasting...Surgeons have several techniques to treat "wet" macular degeneration, including:-Laser photocoagulation. This procedure is used to stop the abnormal growth of blood vessels that happens in "wet" macular degeneration. The surgeon focuses a laser beam onto a small spot on the macula where blood vessels are growing. The laser beam heats up that spot, creating a tiny burn in the blood vessels and stopping their growth. Unfortunately, vision does not come back in the areas treated with the laser. It is also very likely that new blood vessels will grow at some time in the future. -Photodynamic therapy. In this treatment, a special dye is injected into the bloodstream. This dye is actually a type of medication that only becomes active when very strong light, such as a laser, is shined on it. The surgeon activates the medication by focusing a laser onto the abnormal blood vessels that are growing in the macula. The medication works from inside the blood vessels to shrink them. This treatment causes much less damage to the macula, so there is less loss of vision. But the growth of abnormal blood vessels still might happen again in the future. -Macular surgery. There are two other treatments the surgeon might recommend for severe cases of "wet" macular degeneration. In both of these procedures, the surgeon makes openings into the eye for special instruments. One technique is to remove the tissue where the abnormal blood vessels are growing. Another method is to lift the macula off the area where the blood vessels are growing and place it in a more healthy part of the retina. These procedures often do not fully restore normal vision, however. I certainly hope this helps! I've included the website.































www.clevelandclinic.org
Reply With Quote