Holes in Vision

Dear Dr. Jacobi,
As a result of my macular degeneration, I am experiencing “holes” in my vision.  Every time I go to focus on something a piece of it is missing.  It makes driving extremely frustrating and reading almost impossible.  My retinal specialist says it is due to damaged and missing parts of my retina.  He said that there was nothing he could do to reverse the damage and restore my vision.  Is there anything that you can do to improve my vision?

While repairing the retinal tissue is not possible, the wonderful news is that there is plenty I can help you with in enhancing the vision you have.  There are many devices (task specific) that can shrink the affect the blind spots are creating in your vision.  

The devices make it possible to enlarge the image that falls on your retina, this way the healthy cells that lie outside the compromised center of your retina (the macula) are utilized.  By activating the healthy cells, the blind spot becomes less influential and therefore less obvious.  Though the blind spot never entirely disappears, it becomes more manageable.
 
When the image is enlarged, there is now a more prominent area in which the eye may land.  The patient’s view now becomes more predictable and more detailed.  Even colors appear more rich!  The ability to locate and identify the object of interest becomes easier and quicker.  So, the patient’s vision becomes less frustrating!

So, in the end, we can “shrink” the blind spots even if we cannot heal the retinal tissue.  The overall goal is to improve how you function and the quality of your life!