drusen

[JZ323]

While having my yearly eye exam at the optometrist at age 19, I was told I had "spots" on my retinas in both eyes.  I was referred to an opthamologist.  I am now 36 years old (female).  I look at an Amsler grid each morning and take Ocuvite and/or Icaps.  I try to include as many leafy green vegetables into my diet as I can (spinach, romaine lettuce)  When I visit my eye dr. yearly, he has me circle parts on the Amsler grid that look wavy or broken. He dilates my eyes and tells me that he can see many drusen in both my right and left eyes. I am concerned that I need more than that in order to track the possible growth of the drusen.  At my last appt. he said that some of the drusen are so close that they might be "growing together".   He will tell me it is VERY uncommon to have drusen from such a young age and there is no way to prevent or treat the drusen.  Needless to say, I am concerned that the rate of possible growth is not being tracked concretely enough and have expressed this concern to my dr.  Is there anything specific that I can suggest or ask of him...or is he doing everything he can?  Is there anything more I can do???

Thank you....

[Prince85]

Let's hope & wait for a professional opinion out on this forum with regards to this case at the earliest.

Take care..

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Your Eye MD isn't doing a bad job at all. use the search feature and read all the posts about age related macular degeneration. You should be doing a weekly Amsler Grid test.

I agree your peace of mind would be bettter if you get in to see a retina specialist.

Find one at www.aao.org

JCHI IIDMD

[kg17]

I would recommend seeing a retinal specialist at a university teaching hospital - they are more likely to have the latest testing equipment to monitor your macula and tend to keep up with the latest research.

[AnnaE]

Are you seeing a retina specialist? I think that is your next step, if you are not already seeing one.

One of the doctors here will soon give you more specific information.

[AnnaE]

The first teaching hospital I went to was too overburdened with state welfare patients. I am going to a second one soon, but only to figure out what happened in the past, I think, as research for my unanswered questions.. I have been told that they are more honest than private practice. The first one was honest, they gave me extraordinary information, but otherwise pessimistic, because they had no time to help me. Private practice was willing to do more surgeries, and at least I have more vision than the university would have helped me with. Let's say I gained from all the consultations, or many of them, but I had to make my own decisons regarding treatment, as soon as I has recovered from the shock of this experience of losing vision. I suggest that you get support from friends, family, the forum and counselors.

Best of luck.

It's a difficult choice, but I would check out either with the doctors here, before you go.
They might have wonderful suggestions, if they know where you are located.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Thanks for the kind words

JCH III MD   MK MD

[Prince85]

Same here I really respect these Docs too..

Keep up the good work..

Cheers!!

[AnnaE]

Yes. The forum gives such valuable information to so many people.I am very grateful to all the doctors here. They work very hard in their practices, and also give so much  valuable help here. I really admire them.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[Prince85]

Professional advice just came in.

This forum is really so good.

Thank you..

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

You are welcome JZ323

JCH III MD

[JZ323]

Thank you to everyone for their comments.  I also want to especially thank Dr. Hagan for his time and input.  I greatly appreciate it...

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[Prince85]

Getting an opinion from a Doc here is really very informative but ultimately, if you are located out of the States, you would have to take your own decison on which Hospital to visit, or unless a particular Doc over here can suggest a particular hospital bassed on the info he or she may have abt medical info of your particular country.

So this forum is really good for getting professional opinion & then incase you are out of the States, it's best for you to decide which hospital to visit bassed on the Hospital's reputation back in your country. And incase someone is going in for a major surjery, then a few aspects have to be looked into, for example the number of failed surgeries that particular mmedical centre have had & for what reason the surgery went for a failure.

Itz difficult to find all this info, but as said by someone in the earlier comment, if friends & family support is available, I am sure things would be atleast a little less difficult.

Thank you.

Cheers!!