Looking Back to See the Way Forward

Some of you know my story. I’ve had AMD (wet in one eye, dry in the other) for going on 9 years now. And just recently my dry AMD eye went into geographic atrophy (GA) and I am now legally blind in that eye. (It tests 20/300). My wet eye (with over 80 injections) is hanging in there and tests at 20/40.

So I was thinking... oh no! I’m so focused on what’s going on with my AMD now that I’ve really lost touch with all the exciting things that there are waiting for me if I need them. Technology changes fast, and so has the field of eye care.

Looking back

I found a cool timeline of events in the past with not only eye health care events, but also when technology that we take for granted appeared.
Just some of the past eras:¹

1st Era: 1969–1979

Hmm, where was I then? I got my first personal computer in about 1977. The timeline says that CCTVs and large key calculators came out around then. That’s about the time that the first treatment for wet AMD was developed - laser photocoagulation which often damaged healthy tissue.

2nd Era 1980–1994

Did you know that it wasn’t until the mid-1980s that the term 'senile macular degeneration' became  'age-related macular degeneration?’ I’m a lot of things, but I’m not senile... yet. It was in 1983 that the first cell phones appeared.

Does it feel like the Internet has been around forever? It wasn’t till 1991 that surfing the Internet became ‘a thing.’

Third 1995–2003

1997 The first anti-VEGF injection for wet AMD was given. (It was Avastin, there are now 5 FDA approved drugs).

2001 AREDS are the first hope for those with dry AMD.

1995 Amazon sells books online (1998 expands beyond just books; e-books 2000) -

1996 Google released - 2000 GPS available for civilians

2001 personal navigation systems available like Garmin and TomTom.

2000 Microsoft & Amazon sell e-books.

Fourth 2004 - 2017

BOOM!

2004-2006 Treatments for wet AMD. Much better than the laser that zapped healthy tissue.
2013 AREDS2

2007 Amazon Kindle e-reader

2008 iPhone (Apple IOS) & Android phone (Android 1.0)

2010 Apple iPad technology/low vision aids:

2018 to present

Here’s what Dan Roberts (do you know who he is?  He is one of the first advocates for AMD). He writes this in an article:"Advancement in low vision technology”(2), it’s been nothing less than miraculous for such a relatively brief period of time.

Just some of the recent developments

1. Desktop electronic magnifiers (CCTVs) for displaying enlarged and enhanced text onto a screen.
2. Optical character recognition systems, which can read text and hand writing aloud.
3. Portable way-finding systems for navigating unfamiliar environments outdoors or indoors.
4. Voice operation of computers, smartphones, and appliances.
5.  A miniature telescope implanted into one eye, allowing constant hands-free magnification.

Back to the present

Have you learned anything? Gained any appreciation for what has come before and what is ahead? I certainly have! Just think, the above monumental things I’ve identified are only a few of the accomplishments science and medicine have brought us in the last 30 years or so.  The past feats and accomplishments gives us a reason for hope that the future will bring us many more amazing aids, medicines, and strategies.

Wishing us well on our shared eye health journey.

Editor's Note: As of August 2023, 2 drugs known as complement inhibitors — Syfovre® and Izervay™ — have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat geographic atrophy (GA).