How can I take the first step to get AMD treatment?

How can I take the first step to get AMD treatment? Well, the first step starts with contacting me and making an appointment to see me in the clinic. At the clinic consultation, I’ll go through your problems regarding your vision health and symptoms.

I’ll examine your eyes; I’ll put drops in to dilate the pupils and take a look at the back of your eyes to examine the retina – the light-detecting sheet or layer at the back of the eye. After examining your eyes, I would recommend having diagnostic tests such as Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging.

OCT imaging uses the reflectivity of light at the back of the eye to allow us to generate three-dimensional, detailed, cross-sectional images of the back of your eye. The results of those retinal scans will allow me to be precise about what the diagnosis is and allow us to discuss the next steps regarding AMD treatment. The scans show different layers of cells in the retina and can pick up small abnormalities which are too small to be detected just by a doctor looking into someone’s eye.

OCT retinal imaging has revolutionised how we detect and treat retinal diseases and enables me as an eye doctor specialising in retinal disease, to assess the impact of treatment on the disease or indeed to see if a condition is getting worse or is stabilising.

Without OCT imaging, it’s difficult to be certain about the health of the retina. Another type of diagnostic imaging test I sometimes use is called Autofluorescence Imaging. This is a camera test using a bright blue light to scan across the retina. This allows assessing the health of the supporting layer of cells below the retina (known as the Retinal Pigment Epithelium, abbreviated to “RPE”).

This layer of cells can be affected by both wet and dry AMD and has an important role in vision. Loss of RPE cells leads to loss of vision, and it is therefore important to carry out a detailed examination and imaging tests to fully understand the severity of any retinal disease and the potential role for treatment.

Sometimes patients come and see me after having seen their optician or optometrist with problems with their vision which can’t be corrected with glasses. Other times, patients come to see me as a private patient for a second opinion regarding their diagnosis or treatment plan.

More recently, I have seen more and more patients who want to have retinal scans and an eye examination to rule out severe and potentially treatable conditions such as wet age-related macular degeneration or cataract.