This week, Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. Mauricio Pereira about the diagnosis and treatment of macular degeneration. Dr. Pereira is a Clinical Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and he’s a retinal surgeon at MUSC Storm Eye Institute.
TRANSCRIPT:
Conner: I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio with Health Focus here at the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. It's estimated that one in every ten Americans age 50 and older have some form of age related macular degeneration. Doctor Mauricio Pereira is here to talk about the diagnosis and treatment of this eye condition. Doctor Pereira is a Clinical Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and a retinal surgeon at MUSC Storm Eye Institute. Doctor Pereira, tell us about macular degeneration.
Dr. Pereira: It is a disease that is age related. So as our body ages and we notice changes to the skin, to the hair, also to our teeth, so same changes can happen to the eye. And as people are getting older we see some changes in the back of the eye. So mainly when you look at the eye you see changes that are like deposits, like debris. And that accumulation of debris, we call drusen, can affect the vision in terms of visual loss or causing difficulty reading or seeing signs or causing central spots in the vision. So mainly all of those changes are age related.
Conner: In addition to the aging process, are there any other risk factors for developing this eye condition?
Dr. Pereira: Well, mostly age-related disease, the age after 55. Some other factors like family history or genetics also play a role. We can consider some factors that could increase the risk, like smoking can increase the risk of getting a more severe disease by 2 to 3 times. The alcohol consumption. There are some evidence about solar exposure and also the presence of any cardiovascular disease.
Conner: And how is this eye condition diagnosed?
Dr. Pereira: We do tests like taking pictures, doing scans at the back of the eye that help us to see details of the retina. And with higher magnification, we can see details even when the disease is at the beginning, the early stages.
Conner: And is it important to diagnose this eye condition early on? Is that important as far as getting the best treatment?
Dr. Pereira: Yes, it is extremely important because the early stages can be treated and the progression of the disease is much worse if you delay the start of the treatment.
Conner: And what is the treatment typically for macular degeneration?
Dr. Pereira: Macular degeneration has basically two forms. One is the dry that affects like 90% of the cases that have AMD. And the other one is the wet form that affects around 10%. So, for the dry form, we recommend taking care of your health in general and also the use of vitamins that were presented as a result of a large, multicenter trial called AREDS2. So, the use of the vitamins can help to prevent the progression to severe forms of the disease in around 25%. For the wet form, we generally use medications that are injected inside of the eye, and these medications, they help to decrease the amount of swelling in the back of the eye. The main goal of the treatment is to slow down the progression, so there is no cure for any of the stages of the AMD. And basically what we try to do is to slow down the progression, and we can tell that the medications can help with that.
Conner: Doctor Perera, thanks for this information about macular degeneration.
Dr. Pereira: Thank you so much.
Conner: From the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio.
Health Focus transcripts are intended to accurately represent the original audio version of the program; however, some discrepancies or inaccuracies may exist. The audio format serves as the official record of Health Focus programming.
