Woman with Diabetes, Glaucoma and Macular Degeneration helped to read

The three greatest causes of vision loss and blindness are diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and macular degeneration. Any one of them can have devastating effects on a person's eyesight and their life. This past week I had the opportunity to perform a low vision evaluation on a lady (GW) who had all three conditions and was asking for help in seeing better for some of the day to day activities that she had given up.

The top 4 things on GW's wish list were to be able to read her Bible, read her mail, use her checkbook and use her computer. Following a thorough low vision evaluation using low vision glasses she was able to do all of these things.

GW had no prescription glasses. Her doctor had recommended that she go to the store and find a pair of readers, telling her that nothing else could be done to help. She also had a low power hand magnifier. Her distance visual acuity with the right eye was 20/240 and 20/700 with the left. When I measured the power of her eyes I found that there was a moderate amount of astigmatism in each eye. Correcting that alone did not improve her vision very much.

A 4X Clear Image microscopic lens combined with the astigmatism correction allowed GW to read a large print Bible easily. With that lens she read letters one third the size that she could with the readers.

When the astigmatism correction was used along with a 2.2X bioptic telescopic lens for distance vision GW was able to read 20/60 letters, one fourth the size that she was able to read with no lenses. She was able to see her husband's face well from about 20 feet and saw the cars and people well when she tested the bioptics outdoors.

GW has ordered the Clear Image microscopic glasses for reading, the bioptic telescopic glasses for television and to recognize faces when she is at church or shopping. In addition, she will have a lens cap for the telescopic glasses that will allow her to use her computer with them.

Although this nice lady has the three most damaging eye diseases she responded very well to low vision glasses and I expect her to enjoy them.

You might think that someone with this combination of eye diseases could not find help. The reason that I accepted her as a patient and is that I'd interviewed her by phone and was sure in advance of her appointment that I could help. I do not accept low vision patients until we have talked by phone and I feel that they have sufficient vision that I can help them achieve their goals.

If you would like to talk about your low vision problem and your goals please give me a call. We can quickly determine if I will be able to help you. Call me toll free 1 866 321-2030. #maculardegeneration