Radical Eye Treatment Keeps Josepha In Focus
Illawarra Mercury
Friday September 1, 2006
THREE years ago optometrists told Wollongong woman Josepha Senden she was going blind.
However a world-first breakthrough in the treatment of diabetic blindness by a Sydney professor means Mrs Senden, a grandmother of seven, is still seeing sharp."I want to see my grandchildren grow up - my sight is so important to me," Mrs Senden said."I do a lot of sewing and reading and watch lots of television and like driving and shopping - if you lose your eyesight you can do those things only with help." Mrs Senden, 61, has been an insulin dependent diabetic since 1991 and a few years ago a routine visit to an optometrist showed the early stages of macular oedema. "The optometrist told me I had better go and see an ophthalmologist who told me I had a type of crystalisation of the eye," Mrs Senden said. Macular oedema occurs when blood vessels in the eye deteriorate and leak causing the retina to swell, leading to blurred vision."I had laser treatment and it did work at the beginning but then it didn't," Mrs Senden said. "(Specialists) told me that the last resort would be having an injection in the eyeball - which was a treatment being trialled at the Sydney Eye Hospital."The treatment was developed more than 15 years ago by researchers at the University of Sydney and patient trials began two years ago."This is a major advance in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy because it allows us to save vision in many patients where standard laser therapy is failing," Associate Professor Mark Gillies said. "This has the potential to benefit thousands of Australians each year and an even greater number of people globally."Patients are given a general anaesthetic before receiving a steroid injection in the eye.
© 2006 Illawarra Mercury
