Wet macular degeneration causes you to slowly lose your central vision over time, and hearing that you have a progressive eye condition that leads to vision loss is upsetting. With wet macular degeneration, abnormal blood vessels begin to develop beneath the retina, where they leak fluid and blood. Most treatments you’ll receive focus on stopping this pattern of blood vessel overgrowth and hemorrhaging, and taking action to preserve your vision feels good. Still, you may need to incorporate these strategies into your lifestyle to help you learn how to cope with your macular degeneration diagnosis and its effects on your vision.
Seek Emotional Support
Facing the possibility of losing your vision is bound to generate emotional distress. Since macular degeneration is a progressive disease, you might feel yourself experiencing anxiety about the future. You could also be grieving the vision that you’ve already lost. The prevalence of depression in people with macular degeneration is around 39%, which is higher than the rate for people with other types of eye health disorders. This makes it even more critical to seek emotional support as you learn how to cope with your diagnosis. Support groups exist for people with macular degeneration, and you may also benefit from professional counseling. Talking to your retina doctor in Brooklyn can also help you feel more control over what is happening with your vision.
Address Practical Concerns
Taking a few steps to address your practical concerns can alleviate anxiety and make it easier to get through your daily routine. You can find tools, such as screen readers, that make it possible to continue to enjoy your favorite book or read a prescription label. If you are still working, then you might want to talk to your employer about accommodations that can help you maintain your position as your vision changes. The world is filled with solutions to help people with vision loss, and you can often find more than one way to get things done once you identify a challenge.
Be Proactive About Seeking Treatment
Anti-VEGF injections are one of the most common forms of treatment for this condition, and they can often be so successful that patients don’t always advance to needing other forms of care. However, it may help you to know that you still have options for addressing your vision loss if you don’t respond well to the injections. Laser treatments can help to correct an overgrowth of blood vessels that impact your vision. New laser treatments can sometimes offer instant improvement in vision, and making sure to work with Brooklyn NY Eye specialists who stay on top of the latest advancements can give you hope for the future.
The good news is that many patients have a great prognosis for halting or slowing down the effects of macular degeneration on their eyes. Keep in mind that some treatments require multiple visits to your eye doctor, and making sure to get each one helps you avoid more vision loss. If you find yourself struggling with a new diagnosis or are curious about what you can do to cope better, then just let your eye doctor know during your appointments. Feeling supported by your vision specialist helps you know that you aren’t alone as you take care of your eye health.