Lin/Linda here: in her previous page, Sue wrote about a wolf pack: “I would like to think we are the pack. I know we are hungry for treatments for AMD. I would like to think we are cunning enough to pick good targets in our hunt for these treatments. I want to believe our hunger will not lead us to be deluded by some “quacker” offering empty promises …and a quick buck for himself.” She continues.
The last page I wrote started to share information about dry AMD treatments from research done in the UK at the request of the government. So far I have gotten to A….this might be a long series!
In the article by Waugh et al., B is for blue light. The blue light idea comes from knowledge that the macular pigments lutein and zeaxanthin absorb blue light as a protective action. Blue light appears to be a factor in AMD progression. The question for research became this: would reduction of blue light slow damage caused by AMD? There were four literature reviews found. Unfortunately, these reviews came to different conclusions. There was no definite proof that replacing the natural lens with a blue-light filter lens in cataract surgery gave a great deal of protection against AMD. Likewise, there was no evidence using a blue-light filtering lens in cataract surgery did any harm.
While there is a long-term study being done in Japan, right now it appears the decision to get a blue-light filtering lens during cataract surgery is a matter for you and your doctor to decide on an individual basis. It may be more a matter of preference than a matter decided by science.
The conclusion on blue-light filtering lenses and AMD seems to be “might not help, but probably won’t hurt either.”
Lucky for you, we get to skip the letters C though K and go on to the letter L. In our alphabet here, L is for laser. That is specifically laser photocoagulation treatment of early age-related macular degeneration. The idea behind laser photocoagulation is to blast drusen before they get too big and prolific and start robbing us of our sight. While the process is not yet well understood and is definitely more involved than playing Blaster Master, there is evidence that laser photocoagulation enhances the clearance of debris (affectionately known on this site as “eye poop”) as well as doing a few other, beneficial things I did not understand.
Like all things that are being investigated, laser photocoagulation therapy has a few kinks that need to be straightened out. There are questions about the types and intensities of the lasers used. For example, in early work a too hot laser appeared to cause a more rapid progression to wet AMD. While they are now using “cooler” lasers and firing them for only milliseconds, there are still things to work out before lasers can be considered a bonafide treatment by most.
The take home message for laser photocoagulation is it is a definite maybe. There were several high quality studies either in process or about to launch when my reference article was published in 2018. They may help determine whether laser photocoagulation therapy has an effect on the development of age-related macular degeneration.
Just a caveat here: at the risk of being a killjoy, I need to remind you that none of the treatments reviewed here are able to restore lost photoreceptors. That means there would not be a significant improvement in vision. What they are hoping to do is to reduce the progression of the disease.
Considering that is where the state of science is presently and, considering I am a very willing lab rat in a clinical trial trying to reduce the rate of progression, that is good enough for me. Hope it is good enough for you as well.
And with that said, the hunt is on! I do believe our next target for consideration is an M word.
NEXT: WOLF PACK LETTERS M & N