Chen Jiantong (2nd from left), chairman of the Society of Retinal Medicine, reminds that if macular degeneration is not treated, it may worsen quickly. (Photo by reporter Luo Bi)
The prevalence rate of age-related macular degeneration among people over 65 years old in Taiwan is 11.1%, and it is estimated that more than 530,000 elderly people in Taiwan may face fundus health threats. Doctors remind you that if you have blurred vision, dark spots in front of your eyes, or distorted images, don’t just treat it as normal aging to avoid missing the opportunity for treatment.
Chen Jiantong, chairman of the Retina Medical Society of the Republic of China and the Taiwan Academic Medical Association of Ophthalmology Professors, said that the macula is like the high-definition area in the center of the screen. When looking directly at an object, it is mainly relied on to see details clearly. Once the macula is damaged, even if the peripheral image still exists, the central focus may still become blurred or even appear as a dark shadow. If the golden treatment period is missed, the lost vision may be difficult to recover.
Chen Jiantong pointed out that age-related macular degeneration can be roughly divided into two categories: dry and wet. The dry type accounts for about 85%, and is mostly related to the degeneration of pigment cells and photoreceptor cells and waste deposition caused by aging. The initial impact on vision is slight, but it still needs to be tracked regularly to prevent deterioration from turning into wet type. The wet type accounts for about 15%. Due to the abnormal proliferation of fragile blood vessels in the fundus, the disease may progress rapidly and may cause sudden loss of vision or even blindness in a short period of time.
Macular degeneration does not only occur in the elderly. Mr. Ding, 56 years old and a senior executive of a multinational company, developed vision problems when he was about 40 years old. At that time, the company was laying off employees due to the financial tsunami, and his daughter was only 2 years old. He suddenly discovered that his eyesight was deteriorating rapidly. The originally straight words and grid lines were distorted into wavy shapes, which even affected his reading and self-care.
After Mr. Ding received treatments such as oral drugs and self-financed photodynamic therapy, his condition was once under control. However, more than 10 years later, the lesions recurred again and severe fundus edema occurred. After evaluation by a doctor, he received intraocular injection treatment covered by health insurance. Currently, he has completed 8 courses of treatment on a regular basis and the fundus edema is under control.
Dr. Weng Zhangqi, a retinal surgeon at the Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei General Hospital, said that currently there are treatment methods for macular degeneration such as intraocular injection of drugs and photodynamic therapy, among which intraocular injection is the main treatment method. Beirong clinical tracking data shows that after the popularization of intraocular injection drug treatment, the treatment interruption rate dropped from 45% to 23%, and the incidence of severe vision deterioration also dropped from 41.4% to 19.6%. This shows that improving treatment accessibility and early and stable treatment can help reduce the risk of disease progression.
Wu Jianliang, chairman of the Association for the Love of Blindness of the Republic of China, reminded that clinical patients are most worried about stopping the medicine on their own because they think their vision has improved, or delaying follow-up due to fear of intraocular injections. Wet macular degeneration, like high blood pressure and diabetes, requires long-term control. If treatment is interrupted rashly, the fundus may ooze blood and edema again, or even cause irreversible visual damage. Therefore, you should follow the doctor's advice to return for regular check-ups and complete the course of treatment.
