jacques had been diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (amd) a few years earlier. his condition had been stable, but now it suddenly progressed to the most severe form of the disease, “ wet degeneration .” this stage is characterized by the sudden development of a network of new blood vessels that ooze into the deep layers of the retina, causing a rapid loss of functional vision in the affected eye.
an urgent referral to ophthalmology is made in cases like these because the window of opportunity for treatment is narrow. immediate treatment usually results in the best prognosis . jacques managed to get treatment within a few days.
the ophthalmologist gave him interocular injections of medication, but this only improved his vision slightly. jacques was depressed and his anxiety was increasing. he felt useless and had lost considerable autonomy.
the loss of an eye is a traumatic event, regardless of the patient’s age. while the significant negative psychological effects are well documented for older patients , recent publications also report the same adverse consequences in younger populations .
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for example, the rate of depression is six times greater in those with significant vision loss than in the general population ( 25 per cent versus four per cent ).
a social worker, aware that the impacts of a visual handicap go far beyond the person experiencing it, will accompany jacques during his rehabilitation process and communicate with his family. in short, jacques will have a good support system and will be able to regain a certain level of autonomy in his life, which, in turn, will have a positive impact on his morale. support groups can also help him in his efforts and if, thanks to effective injections, his visual acuity improves, he will be in a win-win situation.
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age-related macular degeneration is aptly named: its prevalence increases with the age of the patients. nearly one million canadians — 300,000 in québec alone — suffer from amd. of these, 10 to 15 per cent have the wet form , like jacques. amd is the leading cause of blindness in people over the age of 65.
smoking also plays an important role. consuming 25 cigarettes per day doubles the risk of severe damage. exposure to second-hand smoke is also harmful. the chemicals absorbed during exposure to smoke increase the absorption of harmful sunlight by the retina by 1,000 times .
diet can play a preventive role. reducing fat intake in the diet and ensuring adequate omega-3 consumption (forms of triglyceride, 800 mg dha/epa per day) are important . however, adding vitamins formulated for eye health to the mix is not recommended in jacques’ case. vitamins are only effective in treating dry amd in its middle stages, not for preventing it. however, they are one of the few ways jacques can reduce the risk of having his other eye affected and losing all his functional vision.
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