Device Description Advantages Disadvantages Hand-held magnifier “Sherlock Holmes” type portable magnifying glass. Small and inexpensive. Available in a wide range of powers (1.5X – 8X). Socially-accepted. Leaves only one hand free. Difficult to keep in focus if hand trembles. Clamps with flexible arms are available for attaching to table tops. Illuminated hand-held magnifier Portable lens [Read More]
Author: droberts
Photodynamic Therapy
by Dan Roberts Originally posted on MDSupport and updated in September 2005: QLT’s preliminary results found that Visudyne in an occult trial did not achieve its primary endpoint after two years. ———————————– Photodynamic therapy has been shown to be effective in helping to prevent further loss of sight in people who are afflicted by the [Read More]
Eccentric Viewing
by Dan Roberts September 2005 Reviewed by Jennifer Galbraith, O.D. Eccentric viewing is a technique used by people with central vision loss. Also called Preferred Retinal Loci (PRL), it is a method by which the person looks slightly away from the subject in order to view it peripherally with another area of the visual field. [Read More]
What Can I Do To Keep Busy?
by Dan Roberts Updated July 2005 One of the most common concerns of the vision-impaired is how to keep busy. People who are used to filling their days with lots of activities often find it difficult to replace those hours with things that don’t require good eyesight. I posed this problem to the people in [Read More]
Blue Light and Macular Degeneration
From “Macular Degeneration–The Complete Guide To Saving And Maximizing Your Sight” by Lylas G. Mogk, M.D. and Marja Mogk (Reprinted with permission) In many primate studies, blue light has been shown to cause a photochemical reaction that produces free radicals in the RPE and the rods and cones. Researchers believe that these free radicals interact [Read More]