Yes you can have cataract surgery. Sometimes your consultant Ophthalmologist will be reluctant to do this surgery as there is a risk of making the Macular degeneration worse.
Cataract surgery involves removing the lens in your eye and is replaced with a clear artificial lens. Things will seen much brighter but as you have macular degeneration it may not help you to see things in the center of your vision.

If you no longer see an eye specialist and have been discharged, it may be useful to visit an Optometrist (Opticians) they may be able to signpost you to a local service which specialise in helping people with low vision. 
A good low vision service will have a wide range of equipment including handheld magnifiers and digital magnifiers along with practical advice for your day-to-day living. 

 
I have been asked to go to a Low Vision assessment at my local hospital – what will this involve? 
One of the members of staff will have a broad knowledge of how to assess what vision remains and try to find, by trying out, devices which can help you improve your level of vision. This will usually involve trying suitable handheld or stand magnifiers. Hospitals generally cannot supply digital magnifiers or ones that have to be plugged in as they need to be tested regularly and this would be almost impossible.  
There are alternative services such as the Partially Sighted Society where the low vision service can sight post you to get extra help. 

Yes we made a short video about this topic of how to put your artificial tears , eyedrops or glaucoma medication.

Check out the video here

When your eyecare practitioner talks about dry eyes they are talking about the surface of your eye drying out and when this happens then the lids rub against the conjunctiva and white of you eye and it is irritating. The eye then reacts by making more tears to wash out what it thinks is causing the irritation. These tears lack oils which would help to lubricate the eye… the tears evaporate and make the surface dry out even more.

When your eyecare professional says you have dry eyes they are talking the surface of your eyes has dry spots on it. When you then blink the lid will drag across your eye  – this leads to the eye becoming irritated and it’s reaction is to tear up more….. The downside of this type of tear is that it has a lot less oil in it and therefore doesn’t lubricate. The artificial tears have the perfect combination of oils / lubricants and surface conditioners to help rehydrate those patches and leads to less watering.  

Yes you can have cataract surgery. Sometimes your consultant Ophthalmologist will be reluctant to do this surgery as there is a risk of making the Macular degeneration worse.
Cataract surgery involves removing the lens in your eye and is replaced with a clear artificial lens. Things will seen much brighter but as you have macular degeneration it may not help you to see things in the center of your vision.

When your eyecare professional says you have dry eyes they are talking the surface of your eyes has dry spots on it. When you then blink the lid will drag across your eye  – this leads to the eye becoming irritated and it’s reaction is to tear up more….. The downside of this type of tear is that it has a lot less oil in it and therefore doesn’t lubricate. The artificial tears have the perfect combination of oils / lubricants and surface conditioners to help rehydrate those patches and leads to less watering.  

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum or PXE (pronounced ‘pixie’) is a disease affecting many parts of the body. It causes calcium and other minerals to build up in various body tissues, especially those which are usually elastic, such as the skin on the neck, armpits and knees. Affected skin develops a yellow, waxy, ‘cobblestone’ appearance and forms loose folds.

PXE can also affect blood vessels and the digestive system. In the eyes, it causes cracks to form in a tissue called Bruch’s membrane. Leaky blood vessels grow through these cracks, which can lead to sight loss.

How is it inherited?

Most cases are caused by a mutation in a gene called ABCC6. As PXE is an autosomal recessive condition, only someone who inherits a faulty copy of the gene from both parents will develop it.

Children who have one parent with PXE will be carriers, but will not develop it unless their other parent is also a carrier.

If both parents are carriers, there is around a 25 per cent chance that a child will develop PXE, and a 50 per cent chance that they will carry the faulty gene without any symptoms.

People with one carrier parent have a 25 per cent chance of being a carrier, but will not develop PXE.

Symptoms

The ‘cobblestone’ skin lesions, which can appear in childhood or much later, are often the first sign of PXE, before any noticeable sight loss.

Examining the retina will then show up an ‘orange peel’ effect or wiggly cracks called angioid streaks. Neither of these will cause sight loss in themselves.

Later, usually in middle age, blood vessels can grow through the cracks (similarly to wet age-related macular degeneration ) and leak. This scars the macula, leading to distortion and central vision loss. In most people, the peripheral vision is not affected.

Symptoms vary between people, even within the same family, but can include bleeding in the stomach, skin lesions, sight loss and cramp when walking. Women are around twice as likely to be diagnosed with PXE than men, but it’s not yet clear why.

Treatments

At the moment, there is no way to prevent PXE affecting various body tissues – instead, each symptom is treated as and when it appears.

Injections of anti vegf (like those used in wet AMD) are effective at slowing the growth of damaging blood vessels in the eye. Laser treatment is not usually used as it can cause further sight loss

Many different issues can cause visual impairment. Not all of these are related just to the eyes. Many can be related to the pathway between the eye and brain or the part of the brain responsible for processing sight.

If you have noticed a sudden onset of black threadlike artifacts in your vision in one eye it could be a sign of a serious eye condition especially if it comes with flashes of light in your vision – you should see you Optometrist however if you have gradually seen more floaters in your vision, it is usually a normal thing. The floaters are created from cells at the retina coming away and floating into the gel of the eye (known as the vitreous) you are not actually seeing the floater but a shadow of them. Therefore, they are rarely seen in very low light  

If you no longer see an eye specialist and have been discharged, it may be useful to visit an Optometrist (Opticians) they may be able to signpost you to a local service which specialise in helping people with low vision. 
A good low vision service will have a wide range of equipment including handheld magnifiers and digital magnifiers along with practical advice for your day-to-day living. 

 
I have been asked to go to a Low Vision assessment at my local hospital – what will this involve? 
One of the members of staff will have a broad knowledge of how to assess what vision remains and try to find, by trying out, devices which can help you improve your level of vision. This will usually involve trying suitable handheld or stand magnifiers. Hospitals generally cannot supply digital magnifiers or ones that have to be plugged in as they need to be tested regularly and this would be almost impossible.  
There are alternative services such as the Partially Sighted Society where the low vision service can sight post you to get extra help. 

Yes you can have cataract surgery. Sometimes your consultant Ophthalmologist will be reluctant to do this surgery as there is a risk of making the Macular degeneration worse.
Cataract surgery involves removing the lens in your eye and is replaced with a clear artificial lens. Things will seen much brighter but as you have macular degeneration it may not help you to see things in the center of your vision.