The laser treatment for diabetic retinopathy targets the retina at the back of the eye and does not fix the vision problems which are normally corrected by glasses. There is a type of laser treatment (LASIK) which is used to try and remove the need for glasses but this targets the cornea at the front of the eye.I too today have been advised that within the next year I will need laser treatment or vegf injections even a combination apparently. I was just wondering it may sound like a silly question but I honestly don’t know, I wear glasses currently, does laser treatment fix the vision problems or do you continue to wear glasses after the procedure. It’s an odd question I know but I was just generally interested to what happened with this after a laser procedure
I concur with Dark Horse, laser to correct vision (instead of glasses) adjusts the shape of the cornea by cutting parts of it away. Laser for retinal treatment doesn't affect the cornea or lens (the wavelengths of the two lasers is different, one heats the cornea, while the other passes straight through to the retina where it couples and heats the target).
Not been on this thread for a while, interesting to see the posts. I have been receiving Eylea injections in one eye since the autumn, with significant improvements. Some items for interest:
The injections are usually done by the "Nurse Injector" who is very experienced. She uses retractors to keep the eyelids open and she marks the injection point on the surface of the eye so as to avoid blood vessels. While the injections are a bit painful, there has only been a small amount of bleeding if any.
However, one day the nurse was ill so the Dr on duty had to take the list. When my turn came he did not use retractors and was trying to hold the eyelids open with one hand and inject with the other. He hit a blood vessel and I had a sub-conjunctival bleed so my eye was bright red for about 10 days (didn't affect the vision thankfully).
The anti-VEGF injections will now always be needed as it works by neutralising the growth factors that cause the unwanted blood vessels to grow, new unwanted growth factors will still be produced. There is also evidence that some new blood vessels can reduce with the anti-VEGF, so there is an actual improvement, something laser can never do - it just attempts to stop already problematic vessels from developing further, but damages the retina in the process. In my right eye that had the pan-retinal laser treatment my peripheral vision, especially at night, is poor. In my experience, the laser treatment is much more painful then the injections.
Eyelea is more expensive then the others, but it is only needed every two months (once improvements are seen) which comes out to about the same price but with half the number of injections.
Hi BibaBee, Is your husband having Eyelea or one of the others? My experience was that there wasn't much improvement until the third injection. After that, there was noticeable improvement most months, though it did drop back once or twice. Once it seemed stable the time period was moved to six weeks and now eight weeks - but they didn't increase the time until stable. Hope it all goes well.Thanks for sharing! I know a lot of people of scared about the injections, so it is really helpful to share your (mostly) positive experience. I'm thankful my husband is receiving his treatment on the NHS (actually, the first one was done privately). He's needed monthly injections since July last year.....they are only just starting to increase the gaps between treatment now. We're due at the eye hospital thus Friday, which is good, as he feels his vision has tailed off again. It's only been just over 5 weeks since his last. Do you find you notice the effects wearing after a few weeks or so @agwagw ?
I'm afraid things aren't so good. He's woken up this morning with a massive bend in his only good eye (he has impaired vision in his other due to unrelated corneal scarring, as well as the oedema). He has been noticing his vision get progressively worse over the past 10 days or so. He has severe anxiety and is in a state of panic right now. We've moved forward the injections to tomorrow and hopefully they will do the trick again. I have a feeling he has a chronic case of DMO and will need monthly treatment for a lot longer yet. It can't be a coincidence that this happened when they moved from 4 to 5 week intervals (actually 5 weeks and 2 days to be precise).Hi BibaBee, Is your husband having Eyelea or one of the others? My experience was that there wasn't much improvement until the third injection. After that, there was noticeable improvement most months, though it did drop back once or twice. Once it seemed stable the time period was moved to six weeks and now eight weeks - but they didn't increase the time until stable. Hope it all goes well.
So sorry to hear that, fingers crossed for tomorrow.I'm afraid things aren't so good. He's woken up this morning with a massive bend in his only good eye (he has impaired vision in his other due to unrelated corneal scarring, as well as the oedema). He has been noticing his vision get progressively worse over the past 10 days or so. He has severe anxiety and is in a state of panic right now. We've moved forward the injections to tomorrow and hopefully they will do the trick again. I have a feeling he has a chronic case of DMO and will need monthly treatment for a lot longer yet. It can't be a coincidence that this happened when they moved from 4 to 5 week intervals (actually 5 weeks and 2 days to be precise).
@agwagw Just to give an update, my OH had his injections on Thursday last week, so just coming up to a week. His vision isn't back to where it was a few weeks ago, but steadily improving. He feels a lot better and less anxious. The verdict is that they will need to stick with 4 weekly injections for now, which is what I suspected.So sorry to hear that, fingers crossed for tomorrow.
Glad to hear of the improvement, hope it continues well. Just for interest, is it Eyelea?@agwagw Just to give an update, my OH had his injections on Thursday last week, so just coming up to a week. His vision isn't back to where it was a few weeks ago, but steadily improving. He feels a lot better and less anxious. The verdict is that they will need to stick with 4 weekly injections for now, which is what I suspected.
Yes, it is.Glad to hear of the improvement, hope it continues well. Just for interest, is it Eyelea?
Hi Montreal, interested in your symptom at diagnosis - I have a small degradation in vision (can read the eye test chart one level lower than the affected eye) so went for Oct scan and they have said it’s maculopathy but she doesn’t think it needs treatment yet. Mine is also central so laser not possible - was your 60% vision acuity instant or gradual and did you have treatment immediately? My scan was not good enough for the ophthalmologist to see exactly what is going on. Ur having another tomorrow, feeling frightenedI can tell you that nearly four years ago, after nearly 25 years of Type 1, Diabetes, and knowing for over two years that I had had background retinopathy, macular edema (DME) hit me on my right eye. This was out of the blue, with my vision acuity dropping to 60%.
Due to the location of the leakage, close to the fovea, laser was ruled out.
That left only Anti-VEGF as a viable option.
One thing I have to say - they worked, thanks God. My vision was restored over the next four months to 100%. It is still so.
The caveat - Anti-VEGF injections (Eylea) are no permanent solution. In case of persistent DME, they will be required again. Since 2014, I had on average 3-5 injections per year, with only 2016 being "injection free". Pleasant it is not, but hey, for maintaining good vision I'd be more than happy to go through this every morning.
Hi Sedrah,
I had Eyelea injections in one eye for a year or so and it made a huge difference. Eyelea is more expensive then the common alternative, but the injections are less frequent and it is more effective according to published research.
The process is that you will have an eye test, dilating drops and probably an OCT scan and check by a consultant - a cross will be written on you forehead to show which eye is to be treated. A nurse will then give you pain killer drops and iodine antiseptic drops. You will then be sat in a reclining chair and a Dr or a nurse practioner will put a clip to hold your eyelids open, then more drops in and ask you to look to one side as they inject through the white of the eye. It is uncomfortable but less so than fitting the clip. The liquid that goes into the vitreous humour is visible for a while until it disperses into the vitreous - it looks a bit like a lava lamp, blobs moving around. Only takes an hour or so to vanish. My advice is to relax as much as possible and look at something to keep your eye completely still.
In my experience, our 'Nurse Injector' was fantastic - she was doing the procedure day in and day out. She took care to avoid small capillaries in the white of the eye. My one injection by the Dr led to a 'red eye' as there was a tiny bleed below the conjunctiva, it cleared up in a few days.
Out of interest, are you having the injections for macula swelling or proliferative retinopathy?
Not quite true. Laser destroys areas of retina that are not receiving an adequate blood supply so are producing VEG-F (vascular endothelial growth factor). Once the production of VEG-F drops, no new vessels form but also existing vessels tend to regress. Some discussion here:- https://www.healio.com/news/ophthal...thy-receive-panretinal-laser-photocoagulationLaser can only stop blood vessels where it hits, it cannot reverse problematic blood vessels.
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