#38 – CentraSight

When I talked about eye injections in blogs #18  and #19 (link), that was one way of treating macular degeneration for some patients. The injections don’t cure macular but can help, especially by possibly preventing it from getting worse.

Now, I want to talk about another way of coping with macular degeneration – CentraSight. This implanted telescope is not a cure but can help vision enough to allow the user to do more of what he or she wants to do. 

CentraSight is the name of a tiny telescope implanted in one eye to improve vision for those with advanced macular degeneration. This implant is about the size of a pea. I wish this telescope had been available when Millie was alive, but it has only been available since it received FDA approval in 2010.

Here’s the website for more details: www.centrasight.com

To ask questions, here’s the phone number: 877-997-4448.

This telescope improves the central vision, but the side, (or peripheral) vision, is reduced in the eye with the telescope. That’s why you can’t get a telescope in both eyes – to keep some peripheral vision.

The telescope does not restore vision to what it was pre-macular degeneration. Also, it requires rehab after the implant to learn how to use the eye for detailed central vision and the non-implanted eye for less detailed, peripheral vision (like walking ). The rehab helps with the lack of depth perception which will happen after the telescope is implanted. It takes some work with exercises designed to help learn how to use one eye for close vision and the other eye for distance.

In case you are wondering, it is almost impossible to see if someone has this telescope. Also, Medicare usually covers the cost.

This website from the American Council of the Blind tells the story of how getting the CentraSight telescope worked for one woman:

https://www.acb.org/content/my-new-vision-what-its-see-centrasight-telescope-implant-patty-gadjewski

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Readers,

Do you, or someone you know, have this telescope? How has it worked for them?