If you’re like me, approaching your 30s makes you question a lot about what’s in sight for your future: What’s the next step in my career? Do I have enough in savings to think about buying a house? Are my feelings going to change about starting a family? How many days in a row can I get away with microwave popcorn for lunch?
One question I wasn’t expecting to ask: How much longer before I become legally blind?
Some Backstory
In February 2014, I was working on a spreadsheet when suddenly the lines were no longer straight. I initially thought maybe my glasses were smudged or computer was malfunctioning before I noticed the same could be said about the blinds on the window in my office. As much as I love theme parks, fun house mirrors have never had much appeal for me. I was on the phone with my eye doctor immediately to make an appointment. Two weeks and 3 doctors visits later (note to readers: if you feel like something is wrong with your health – KEEP PUSHING your doctors, especially if their first suggestion is along the lines of “sit closer to your computer;” [and nope, I no longer see that doctor]), I was given a diagnosis of myopic macular degeneration, a lot of papers and a needle in the eye. You have no idea how many times I regretted saying “Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle….” poem as a child.
In trying to learn more about my condition, which I’d never heard of before being told it was now a permanent part of my life, I came across very little information online. There is a related disease called age-related macular degeneration, which is one of the leading causes of vision loss in people over 50, but most websites I found only acknowledged myopic macular degeneration has symptoms similar to AMD, but is caused by severe myopia. Or I was directed to clinical research results, of which I understood about three sentences. Not exactly the best way to become well-informed about what was ahead. Forty-something appointments and 20 or so injections later, I won’t say that I’m an expert on the subject, but I do know a lot more than I did at 28 – and thank goodness I can say that about subjects other than my health as well.
What’s In Sight?
Enter this blog. I haven’t created it solely to exist as a resource for my fellow myopic degenerates, although I’m really hoping people find useful information here if they or someone they know has been recently diagnosed. This website is also motivation for me to follow through on some of my goals to visit, read and watch as much as possible while my central vision allows me to do so; and any accommodations I may need to make to continue to enjoy those things along the way.
5 Comments
Just wanted to thank you so much for the information about MMD. I was told I had the condition 8 years ago but no-one has explained it to me as clearly. I’m lucky so far that the damage to my macula currently is minimal but I’ve also had issues with double vision. It’s frustrating to see so much information about AMD but nothing about MMD- but the statistics you quoted make sense of that- we are obviously special!
I’m so glad you found my page! I kept getting so frustrated about the lack of info on MMD I figured I may as well do something about it. Let me know if there’s any specific topics you’d like to see a post on. I have a few in mind (my next post should be about what a doctor’s visit is like), but I definitely want to know for my MMD posts what type of info people would find most helpful!
I have myopic macular degeneration and have submacular scars is there any cure for the scars
Please
Welcome to my page, I’m so glad you found me! Unfortunately at the moment there is not treatment available to reverse the scarring, but I know research and clinical trials are being performed to try and find ways to heal those scars and restore vision, mostly with stem cells. It’s definitely something they are working towards.
I’ve read that microcurrent treatment helps with scar tissue. I wasn’t able to find a whole lot of studies to support this but it might be worth looking into. I had a series of treatments that helped with my large annoying floaters. I’m not a medical professional 🙂