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The Amsler Grid is used to test the macula, the very central part of the retina. The test is simply a grid made of evenly spaced horizontal and vertical lines. A small dot is located in the center of the grid for fixation. While focusing on the dot in the center of the grid, with one eye covered, ask yourself the following questions:

* Am I able to see the corners and sides of the square?

* Do I see wavy lines?

* Are there any holes or missing areas?

If the lines of the grid do not look straight or appear to be missing and/or distorted, you should visit your Optometrist as soon as possible.

By: Darcie Thom

The average person probably wouldn’t disagree that there is nothing more refreshing than waking up to a cheerful, beautiful, sunny summer day, but sadly I do. When I wake up to that blinding glare, I have no choice but seclude myself to the darkness, otherwise the day becomes a struggle with slightly painful pulsating pains (in the eye), which is followed by headaches and tiredness. This is the typical reaction that people with AMD get.

I, along with several ‘older’ generations suffer from an eye disease called “Aged-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), an eye disease that terminates some, if not all, central vision to say the least. I was fortunate to see a retinal specialist when I did, considering that my eye had been bleeding internally for the entire previous week, which had been originally written off as an eye infection and prescribed with eardrops. Yes - I said eardrops!

At the initial eye appointment, a young and newly graduated Optometrist was the first to diagnose the surprising discovery. He looked at me quite sadly and with admitted fear, he sat me down to explain my ‘visual future’, it didn’t take me long to figure out that the vision would not be returning. He referred me to a Retinal Specialist who has managed to help me cope, survive the hard days and continue to push me in a positive direction instead of wallowing away in my own self-pity.

AMD doesn’t always give warning signs to the people that are afflicted by this disease, but there is a way to prevent major damage to the eye.

Optometrists are generally clear about the yearly (or two-year) check-ups, mostly for change in vision or vision loss, but also for the many other diseases that take form in and around the eye. They are specially trained to work with the newest technologies that are able to detect the vision damages to ones eye(s), that is, if he/she attends a yearly or two-year check-up.

AMD is the leading cause of blindness in Canada (in fact - across the world), by the time that most people discover their personal robbery, it is sometimes too late to reverse the damage but is still very much treatable. With the growing demands of treatments for wet and dry AMD, people are receiving some of the best care that can be offered here in Canada.

Currently, people with AMD are required to see their specialist every six weeks to three months, sometimes more. With re-occurring bleeding, caused by broken blood vessels within the internal eye, treatments are routinely given for prevention and healing.

Although Wet AMD is a non-curable disease, it is a disease that may be treated, in my case, with an injection of Lucentis Avastin Macugen to the eye, (not particularly my favorite treatment but it helps). This medication is used to block abnormal blood vessels from breakage and growth, which also slows down the vision loss and in rare cases, restore some of the lost vision.

Visudyne therapy, a laser that seals the leaking blood vessels located outside of the Macula, is the second treatment that is provided for people with Wet AMD. It is a drug that injected into ones arm, it flows through the bloodstream and makes its way to the retinal blood cells, the Retinal Specialist activates this drug by shining a non-thermal laser into the eye which produces a chemical that eliminates abnormal blood vessels.

People with this disease are condemned to vitamins, treatments and constant appointments with eye specialists, however there is light to this story, there are treatments available which helps to slow it down. Every day people take their vision for granted, I did until I lost a majority of it.

My personal fight with Wet AMD has felt like a long one, but I have managed to adjust my lifestyle and the way that I complete everyday tasks.

For whatever reasons, I developed this disease at a younger age without really fitting into the ’causes’. Most of the time, people who are 50 years of age or older, smokers and people with family history of AMD are usually the ones that are diagnosed with this eye disease but it isn’t uncommon for younger generations to develop AMD.

For just a moment, consider what it would be like to have worse vision than you presently do, whether you have 20/20 vision or are in need of vision aids. Imagine looking at a straight line and seeing them blend together, not in a blur but rather, a wavy way, like the painting ‘Soft Watch at the Moment of First Explosion’ by Salvador Dali. Most people try to make light of their situation, my family has been the best support through my personal journey, always reminding me of the many things out there to help people out, like the road brail on the highways! Without the support of the people around us, people who deal with this visual distortion, would not always be able to cope, both physically and emotionally.