Living with wet AMD
Getting Around Safely with Low Vision
4 tips to stay safe and smart while you’re out and about
By planning ahead, you can be confident in your ability to get around safely with wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) – whether you are preparing for a trip to the store, or travel to another country.
Talking To Your Doctors
Top Q&A Tips from Patients and Caregivers
When managing a chronic, degenerative condition like wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), it is important to keep an open line of communication with your eye doctors. In addition to setting up treatment visits based on your doctor’s recommendation, and helping him or her track the progression of your disease, you may also want to check in periodically to understand more about options for managing the fluid your doctors will monitor.
5 Tips to a Safer Home
Simple changes can make big safety differences
Navigating your home can become challenging because of wet macular degeneration. When the center of your vision is impaired, you may need to find ways to help you walk down stairs, set an oven or microwave timer or avoid bumping into your coffee table.
Overcoming Fear of Injections
Tips to help reduce anxiety, fear, and nervousness
It’s important not to miss an anti-VEGF injection when you have wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), because these injections help prevent vision loss. However, it’s normal to experience some level of anxiety when it comes to receiving the injection itself. Many people are afraid of needles, and injections in the eye sound especially scary. But there’s good news—these injections are usually very quick and rarely painful.
Choosing a Caregiver
How to decide who should be your main support while living with wet AMD
One of the most important decisions following a wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) diagnosis is choosing someone to be your primary caregiver. A caregiver can mean something different for each person – you may just want someone you can depend on for transportation to and from doctor’s appointments, or you may need consistent daily or weekly support in more parts of your life. If you or your potential caregiver need more details on the responsibilities they could have, click here.
Explaining wet AMD to friends and family
Opening up to your loved ones about your diagnosis
Receiving a wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) diagnosis can be unnerving. People may feel fear and frustration.1 It is understandable if you find it hard to share news of the diagnosis with your loved ones and explain what it means.
Optimise Your Smartphone for Low Vision
Making your device work for your needs
As more of us rely on smartphones for daily tasks, there is an increasing need to be sure these devices work well for everyone, including those with wet macular degeneration. In recent years, many improvements have been made to smartphones to better serve the low vision community, including better zoom and contrast functionalities, apps and more. Read on for practical tools you can use to optimise your smartphone to meet your vision needs.
Video Chatting & wet AMD
Tips for staying connected virtually
If you’re feeling socially isolated, you’re not alone. It’s a common feeling among older adults. It’s important to not give up trying to stay connected with your loved ones, support groups and doctors, even when you’re not able to see them in person. Video chatting is a feature found on most mobile phones, tablets and laptop computers. It can be an easy way to see and talk with your community while in the safety and comfort of your own home. Here are a few tips to help you become familiar and comfortable with video calling.
Digital Tools to Help Navigate Daily Life
Free mobile apps designed to help visually impaired people in daily life
Managing life with visual impairment can be a minute-by-minute challenge, with simple tasks like preparing meals, reading and walking becoming tough to navigate. To help you continue to enjoy the activities you love, ViaOpta was developed – it is a set of three free mobile applications designed to assist in addressing your daily needs which you can download via Apple App store or Google Play store.
Support & Resources
Vision Organisations and Groups in Ireland
The following details are for organisations that can offer you advice and support about Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), other eye conditions and low vision support.
