Judi Dench Reveals How She’s Coping with Macular Degeneration and Vision Loss

From People Magazine March 7, 2015:

Dench, who revealed in 2012 that she suffers from macular degeneration that can lead to blindness, says that she has the typeface enlarged so she can read scripts. “So, if six of us were coming in to read a sonnet they’d all have one piece of paper and I’d have two or three,” she tells PEOPLE in the magazine’s new issue. Chuckling, she adds, “They’d think, ‘why does she have a bigger part?’ when it’s all the same! “While a diagnosis of Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) can be devastating, like Judy, with proper diagnoses and treatment, you can still do the things you love. Click here to read the entire article.

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Macular Degeneration and Vision Loss

Macular Degeneration is an incurable eye disease. Though it is not painful, it is the leading cause of blindness for Americans over 55. Because it doesn’t hurt, you often don’t know you have it until the damage to your eyes has already progressed. This silent, blinding disease, affects more than 10 million Americans. As our population continues to age, the number of people affected by this silent aggressor is projected to rise. Although there is not a cure, there is hope.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a medical condition which usually affects older adults and results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field (the macula) due to damage of the retina. Age-related macular degeneration occurs in two forms, “dry” and “wet”. It is the foremost cause of blindness and visual impairment in old adults 50 years and older. Macular degeneration can make it difficult or impossible to read, recognize faces, or watch TV, although some peripheral vision remains to allow other activities of daily life.

Although Macular Degeneration causes damage to the retina, healthy tissue can remain. Dr. Azman utilizes the healthy tissue, to prescribe low vision telescope and/or microscope glasses to people with macular degeneration. With these low vision telescope and/or microscope glasses people are now able to enjoy their lives. Seeing your family members, reading, watching TV, using the computer, and driving is now an option for people suffering from Age Related Macular Degeneration.