Considering all of the things that may ever happen to us, I never would have expected to be diagnosed with macular degeneration. I had heard of macular degeneration before, but didn’t really know what is was. I found out that macular degeneration is, a blinding eye disease that is not curable, but depending on the type, causes, and symptoms, may be temporarily treated. The doctor that diagnosed me said that I would have to go through many different tests before I knew what type of macular degeneration (AMD) that I had. I am not a patient person and I figured the tests would take a long time, so I decided to do some research of my own. I researched and found that “AMD is caused by the breakdown of blood vessels between the insulating layer
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One of the very first symptoms that was listed is something called drusen. As the article “Age-related Macular Degeneration” says, “drusen (bumps) are very common in the elderly and they appear as yellow deposits either under the pigment epithelium, or may be prominently found in or around the macula” (n.pag.). I understood this to mean that the eye basically makes more eye crumbs than usual, but they can be bigger and more painful. There are also symptoms that have to do with changes in central vision. One of the changes may be “blurry or fuzzy vision,” which is one of the vision changes that I have had recently (“Macular,” American). Murray says that another symptom of macular degeneration may be that “our eyes begin to distort the size of the images we see, making the images appear smaller,” which would explain why the pictures that I have of my grandkids have appeared smaller lately (Murray). I have also noticed lately that “straight lines may appear distorted, meaning that they are wavy or curvy” in my central vision which “Age” says is another symptom of macular degeneration (“Age”). Continuing to read this interesting article, Sheppard says that “scotomas or blind spots in the central area or field of vision is a sign that someone may have macular degeneration” (Sheppard). I have not had any …show more content…
I have been very anxious knowing that six months ago, I read multiple articles full of factual information that told me my vision might not ever be the same again. The articles also said if the disease were to worsen, I would eventually lose all of my central vision. Six months ago, I had also asked my mother if my grandmother had a disease called, “macular degeneration.” She told me that my grandmother had wet macular degeneration, which is the severe kind and causes permanent vision loss. Still patiently waiting, I heard a “knock” on the door. The doctor came in and sat down. He said, “there is no easy way to say this, but you have wet macular degeneration.” I sat there for a moment in silence as the words shot me like bullets. I was shocked. I asked the doctor, “Could I have prevented the disease from happening?”, and he said, “no. I believe you genetically inherited the disease.” He continued on and said that I had treatment options, which I already knew about, but I wanted him to recommend what would be best for me. The doctor said, “Your best treatment option would be radiation therapy or laser photocoagulation because your blood vessels are not in a spot that would cause harm to any other parts of the eye.” He then said, “that I should go home and let the diagnosis sink in before I make any haste decisions.” I left the doctor’s office and drove
One of the very first symptoms that was listed is something called drusen. As the article “Age-related Macular Degeneration” says, “drusen (bumps) are very common in the elderly and they appear as yellow deposits either under the pigment epithelium, or may be prominently found in or around the macula” (n.pag.). I understood this to mean that the eye basically makes more eye crumbs than usual, but they can be bigger and more painful. There are also symptoms that have to do with changes in central vision. One of the changes may be “blurry or fuzzy vision,” which is one of the vision changes that I have had recently (“Macular,” American). Murray says that another symptom of macular degeneration may be that “our eyes begin to distort the size of the images we see, making the images appear smaller,” which would explain why the pictures that I have of my grandkids have appeared smaller lately (Murray). I have also noticed lately that “straight lines may appear distorted, meaning that they are wavy or curvy” in my central vision which “Age” says is another symptom of macular degeneration (“Age”). Continuing to read this interesting article, Sheppard says that “scotomas or blind spots in the central area or field of vision is a sign that someone may have macular degeneration” (Sheppard). I have not had any …show more content…
I have been very anxious knowing that six months ago, I read multiple articles full of factual information that told me my vision might not ever be the same again. The articles also said if the disease were to worsen, I would eventually lose all of my central vision. Six months ago, I had also asked my mother if my grandmother had a disease called, “macular degeneration.” She told me that my grandmother had wet macular degeneration, which is the severe kind and causes permanent vision loss. Still patiently waiting, I heard a “knock” on the door. The doctor came in and sat down. He said, “there is no easy way to say this, but you have wet macular degeneration.” I sat there for a moment in silence as the words shot me like bullets. I was shocked. I asked the doctor, “Could I have prevented the disease from happening?”, and he said, “no. I believe you genetically inherited the disease.” He continued on and said that I had treatment options, which I already knew about, but I wanted him to recommend what would be best for me. The doctor said, “Your best treatment option would be radiation therapy or laser photocoagulation because your blood vessels are not in a spot that would cause harm to any other parts of the eye.” He then said, “that I should go home and let the diagnosis sink in before I make any haste decisions.” I left the doctor’s office and drove