Dr. Marc Grossman of Natural Eye Care says that there plenty of myths about macular degeneration such as:
Everyone with macular degeneration is going to continue losing vision. There is no effective treatment to prevent the degradation of one's sight.
Facts:
Sight loss is not inevitable for those who have been diagnosed with macular degeneration. There are steps you can take to stabilize and possibly even improve your vision. Certain nutrients such as omega-3 fish oil and CoQ10 with L-Carnitine may help slow down macular degeneration and preserve sight. Lifestyle changes may also be helpful. Some research indicates that daily use of Microcurrent Stimulation may help preserve vision as well.
Macular Degeneration (or ARMD, Aged-Related Macular Degeneration) is the slow deterioration of the cells in the macula, a tiny yellowish area near the center of the retina where vision is the most precise. This deterioration affects your central vision, jeopardizing your ability to read, write, drive, and recognize faces. Your peripheral vision is not affected by ARMD.
There are two types of macular degeneration. Ninety percent of people with macular degeneration have the dry type, in which small, yellow spots called drusens form underneath the macular. Drusens are believed to be waste products that accumulate when there are not enough antioxidants to clear the waste from the eyes. The drusen slowly break down the cells in the macular, causing distorted vision.
Dry macular degeneration can progress to the second, more severe type, called wet macular degeneration. In cases wet macular degeneration, new, abnormal blood vessels begin to grow toward the macular, causing rapid and severe vision loss.
Symptoms of macular degeneration:
-Straight lines look wavy
-Distinct shapes are blurry
-Colors look dim
-Words appear blurred or difficult to read
-Dark or blank areas block the center of your vision
-There appears to be a fog in the center of your vision
Causes:
-Free radicals can damage the eyes. They are formed when the ultraviolet and blue light of sunlight passes through the crystalline lens. Free radicals are also natural byproducts of metabolism. These highly reactive chemicals cause oxidation, and can destabilize healthy cells in the back of the eyes. Free radical damage is accelerated by smoking, chronic fatigue, and having a compromised immune system.
Nutritional Deficiencies and poor digestion - Often sufferers of macular degeneration are deficient in a number of the nutrients that are essential to eye health: essential fatty acids, lutein, zeaxanthin, taurine, antioxidants, bioflavenoids, zinc, selenium, and vitamin B-complex.
As far as heredity is concerned Individuals at risk for macular degeneration include:
-Women
-Smokers - smoking increases the risk of ARMD by 200-300%
-Adult diabetics
-People with uncontrolled high blood pressure
-Those lacking sufficient ability to absorb nutrients through their digestive tracts
-Those with a family history of macular degeneration
Drugs that can damage the retina:
-Plaquenil (hydroxchloriquine sulfate), routinely prescribed by rheumatologists for rheumatoid arthritis, it
has caused irreversible retinal damage.
-Chloridine (brand name Catapres), used to lower blood pressure
The whole family of NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) can cause visual side effects such as cataracts, dry eyes, and retinal hemorrhages that may result from long-term use. These include aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, Bayer, Aleve), flurbiprofen, ketoprofen and naproxen sodium. Also Tylenol (acetaminophen), though not an NSAID, can be harmful.
Conventional Treatment:
At the present, there is no effective treatment for macular degeneration. Some cases of macular degeneration are treated with laser surgery, but the treatment itself may not effectively seal up a leaky blood vessel without at the same time permanently destroying retinal nerve fibers that pass through the same area. According to the National Eye Institute, laser treatment can actually worsen vision, and any ability to slow the progression of disease does not appear until at least a year after surgery.
Photodynamic Therapy (PVT) is now used to help seal leaky blood vessels in the retina. This procedure is generally much less damaging than traditional laser treatments because it is more effective at targeting abnormal blood vessels and is less likely to damage retinal cells.
Doctors are now using injectable antiangiogenesis drug into the retina for wet macular degeneration. These drugs help prevent the body from growing new, leak-prone blood vessels in the retina. Macugen is one of the more common drugs being injected, though Lucentis and Avastin are considered more effective treatment strategies. So far, the best results so far have been in studies involving a combination of Lucentis and PVT to help stabilize wet macular degeneration.
Drugs can have potentially serious side effects, so the benefits of going on these therapies have to be evaluated with your eye doctor and family.
As always, prevention is the best medicine. Using complementary medicine to try to address the underlying cause of macular degeneration, along with conventional Western medicine to try to prevent damage on in acute situation, is the best approach to preserving vision both short and long-term. Since less than one-percent of those with macular degeneration have progressed to the point of legal blindness, most are in a position to benefit greatly from prevention.