by B.J. Armstrong

As the new year begins... let us dedicate it to a healthier 2008. Let's begin with healthy vision. Start with an eye check-up... because your doctor's goal is the same as yours... to keep your eyes healthy.

When you have a headache, you take a pain reliever, but when you have high eye pressure or open angle glaucoma, there's no pain at first. That's risky because if high eye pressure is not treated, it can hurt your optic nerve. Over time, damage to the optic nerve can lead to vision loss. And once the damage is done, you can't undo it.

The more you understand about glaucoma, the more you can get involved in treating it. Think of your eye as a sink. When it fills up, it eventually has to drain. Normally, the watery fluid that fills your eye empties out through drainage channels. When you have high eye pressure, it is as if the drainage channels

are clogged and fluid builds up. In a sink, the water would overflow. In your eye, there's no place for the fluid to go, so it creates pressure within the eye. What to do! Use eye drops, such as XALATAN, or whatever your doctor prescribes to open the drainage channels in the eye. These eye drops help to drain the fluid, thus relieving high eye pressure.

The doctor gives you a prescription and you

go straight to get it filled, right? Not always. Quote from Dr. Gail Schwartz, but could be from any eye doctor: "I can be the best doctor in the world, but if patients don't do their part at home in between visits, there may not be anything I can do. The power is in their hands."

Treating glaucoma is a long-term maintenance issue. You need to take your medicine every day just like blood pressure

medicine. If you don't, the pressure goes back up.

Aging happens to us all. Our eyes change as we age. Wet (AMD) begins slowly. The vision gets dim. Abnormal blood vessels grow and leak. (AMD) is the initials for age-related macular degeneration. I have had this eye problem for over a year now. The retina specialist decided that LUCENTIS was right for me. LUCENTIS is given by injection into your eye in your retina's specialist's office. After your injection, you can go home. Prior to the injection, your eye will be cleaned to avoid an infection. Then your eye will be numbed. Once your eye has been numbed, you will feel a little pressure on your eye. It took three

injections to get the most improved vision for me. Over time, about 95% of patients notice that their vision stays the same and up to 40% of patients notice an improvement.

There is no cure for AMD, but LUCENTIS is the newest wet AMD treatment developed exclusively for use in the eye. And, its the only treatment that is FDA approved to maintain or improve vision in patients with wet AMD. Although uncommon, serious side effects related to the injection procedure are rare. These include serious eye infection, detached retina, and cataract.

Wet AMD is caused by new blood vessels growing and leaking fluid in the macula. This causes damage to the macula. The macula... which is the center of the retina... plays a key role in your central vision. The good news is AMD can become a manageable condition by treating it regularly with LUCENTIS. Understand your diagnosis and know how it can affect your health.

Make sure your eyes get the treatment that they deserve. Your eye doctor's goal is the same as yours... to keep your eyes healthy in 2008 and for years to come.

The reason that "seeing ourselves as others see us" doesn't do much good is that we don't believe what we see.  - Author Unknown
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