Eye Health

Vision Rehabilitation is recommended for people with no vision or low vision, both children and adults, to enable them to live as independently as possible. Ms. Beula Christy, PhD, Head, Institute for Vision Rehabilitation L V Prasad Eye Institute explains how vision rehabilitation can be customised to suit the specific needs of the people concerned. What is Vision Rehabilitation?  Rehabilitation is an essential health service that focuses on the functioning of an individual to live as…

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness in India. If managed well, you can prevent loss of vision and maintain a good quality of life. PatientsEngage has partnered with IHOPE to bring to you insights on how to manage glaucoma effectively. Our panelists for this discussion on 18th April were Viji Venkatesh, Glaucoma patient advocate Dr. Sirisha Senthil, Head VST Glaucoma Centre, LV Prasad Eye Institute   Many people don’t understand this disease or know about it. Even members of the…

Rekha Khanduri, 73 from Mumbai has diabetes for a while and lost her eyesight due to diabetic retinopathy, a diabetes related complication. She talks about how she has since learnt to live with such an irreparable loss. Please tell us a bit about your condition : I have Blood Pressure as well as diabetes. In fact, I lost my left eye due to diabetes. When were you diagnosed with diabetes? About 35 years back. Diabetes runs in the family as both my grandfathers had it. My paternal grandfather had…

Diabetic retinopathy is a complication of diabetes and can cause blindness if left undiagnosed and untreated. It affects persons with any kind of diabetes - Type 1, Type 2 and gestational. Dr. Raja Narayanan, Principal Investigator IHOPE and Consultant Opthalmologist, Vitreo Retinal Diseases answers questions on the risk factors, treatment and prevention of Diabetic Retinopathy. The video below covers the following topics:  - What is Diabetic Retinopathy  - Symptoms of Diabetic…

Can AMD Be Prevented?  The disease often has a progressive ageing related course, and preventive therapies are thus very sought after. Anti-oxidant supplementation has been shown to marginally reduce the progress of intermediate forms of disease to its advanced forms. Diet enhancement with anti-oxidants rich food is another less evaluated option. Avoid other risk factors like smoking. Control systemic diseases like hypertension and other heart conditions mentioned before to help in…

How can AMD be managed?  Regular eye-exams and follow ups are crucial. If the vision gain in therapy is not enough or low, or if therapy is not possible, persons with AMD are guided to low vision aids which improve the visual perception both for reading as well as mobility. These aids range from simple wearable glass mounted magnifying lenses to wearable camera related GPS enabled gadgets. Surgically implantable devices are also in advanced stages of investigation and are expected to find…

There is no well accepted therapy for dry form of Age related Macular Degeneration. The wet form of AMD or ARMD was earlier treated commonly with lasers or photodynamic therapy but today intraocular injections are the most successfully employed therapy. Anti-VEGF (Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor) group of agents are typically utilised for this, and if injected timely, have gratifying response both in terms of vision and OCT (Optical coherence tomography) changes. The eye injection is an…

​There are different tests to diagnose AMD Ocular examination This is the gold standard for diagnosis, where the ophthalmologist evaluates the retina after dilating the pupils to look for signs of dry or wet AMD or ARMD.   Optical coherence tomography (OCT)  is a very simple and useful test that is frequently employed to confirm the findings and also guide therapy. It provides the clinician an “optical biopsy”, allowing him to understand the structural damage to the individual layers…

Age related Macular Degeneration (AMD or ARMD) is most commonly classified as dry or wet form. The dry form passes through early and intermediate stages before reaching the advanced stages. It is characterised by deposition of drusen, which happens due to wear and tear related to ageing and reflects by products of general metabolism of the eye.  These deposits are clinical evidence of damage the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) layer of the retina, whose primary function is to nourish the…

Symptoms of AMD Age related Macular Degeneration (AMD or ARMD) frequently involves both eyes. Since the degeneration predominantly involves the central retina also called as macula, the disease can result in significant symptoms. Early or less harming forms of disease result in blurring of vision for both distance and near. As the disease progresses towards stages of atrophy and scarring there can be severe loss of vision, necessitating visual aids. In advanced stages, patients often complain…