Skip to content
Imagine doing your favorite activity right now. Perhaps you picture yourself reading your favorite book, sewing together a gorgeous quilt for your best friend, fixing up a car, or painting a landscape that would even make Monet jealous.
Now imagine yourself doing those same things with low vision or no vision at all. That’s what it would be like to partake in your favorite activities if you suffered from macular degeneration.
Perhaps you’ve heard the term “macular degeneration” but have no idea what it’s all about or maybe you shrug off the worry, thinking that it only strikes the elderly. We at Performance Eyecare are here to tell you that you should take the time out to get tested to ensure that you are not developing the disease that is a huge reason for causing vision loss in people across the world.
It’s true, macular degeneration is a common eye condition that mostly affects people in their 50s or older. What happens when you have macular degeneration is your macula, the part of the eye that allows you to see things in sharp, clear vision, is destroyed gradually, causing you to lose your vision in time. Sometimes the disease advances so slowly that you won’t have vision loss for a long time, and other times it progresses so quickly that you might experience vision loss in one or both eyes, making it hard to recognize your loved ones’ faces, drive your car, or do your favorite hobbies and activities!
So who is at risk for this disease? Macular degeneration typically occurs in those 50 years old and older, and as you age, your risk increases. Other risk factors include smoking and if anyone in your family has developed the disease at some point.
There are some schools of thought that believe that your lifestyle choices can make a difference in developing the disease, especially if you’re predisposed to the disease due to family history. Lifestyle choices such as avoiding smoking, exercising, maintaining a normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and eating a healthy diet rich in green, leafy vegetables and fish might help you prevent this disease.
The most important thing you can do to fight against macular degeneration, however, is to get tested. Seeing your eye doctor at least once a year for a complete eye exam can help ensure that you’re healthy, and the disease is much easier to deal with when it is detected early.
We at Performance Eyecare are happy to inform you that we will be holding a testing day at our office in Swansea on Thursday, January 31! We will be offering the MaculaRisk Genetic Test – the most advanced diagnostic tool for determining your risk of vision loss from macular degeneration – to all who come in on that day! Your health insurance will be billed, so your out-of-pocket expense that day will only be your copay, if you have one.
To schedule an appointment with us on our testing day or to make a regular appointment for an eye exam, just call us here at (618) 234-3053 in Swansea or (314) 878-1377. Be sure to check us out online at www.PerformanceEyecare.com to see what we can do for you!