Escoops

Early Vision Loss Treatment Due to ARMD or other Ocular Conditions

It is all about the edges!  That means improving contrast sensitivity is key to making people with early vision loss happy!  You see a patient and they have 20/40 vision overall and you think, “This is not bad at all.”  Yet the patient complains more voraciously than patients with 20/200.  So it seems some of this is due to the lack of initial acceptance.

However, the transition from pristine sight to less than has a severe impact on confidence in vision.  The patient becomes more hesitant with locomotion and driving.  This is the first response to slower reading.  In reality, the loss is very real!  Obscured sight is certainly disgruntling. 

 Try squinting such that your lashes obscure vision.  Certainly, you can “see”, however, your vision is somewhat obscured, indistinct.  You will even notice a flickering as you try to hold that lid posture.  This approximates the vision many of your early patients struggle with.  

Margret is a patient with active central edema due to ARMD.  Her acuity is 20/30 overall.  Yet, her sight is wavy.  Placing telescopes in front of her eyes help tremendously, but, we sense that perhaps a simpler solution is available.

Thus, we introduce a spectacle fitted lens named, Escoop.  This typical spectacle lens offers 4-6 percent magnification due to increased lens curvature and thickness.  This is the right amount of magnification for early vision loss.  It improves contrast with a full field of view!

Currently, we are the only practitioners that offer this lens in the state of Michigan.  Most patients suffering with the loss of contrast sensitivity benefit from the application of this lens.  Interestingly, we have great breakthroughs with amblyopic patients. Again, this population suffers from a severe collapse of contrast sensitivity.  All partial loss patients benefit from an improvement in their contrast sensitivity.

Typical Escoop prescribing includes a higher than usual add.  These adds will range from +4.00 to +8.00. These lenses are a terrific option to more advance devices.  The adjustment of these lenses to the patient is paramount in securing acceptance.

To summarize, patients need not experience frustration, while at the same time, they have more expanded lives with Escoop lenses. That is , when their vision loss is early, they may still enjoy increased contrast sensitivity thus, allowing them more confidence and better all over function.

As always, please feel free to regarding a specific patient!

At your service,
John P. Jacobi, FCOVD, FIALVS