Therapy offers glimmer of light for sufferers of eye condition

PATIENTS with a degenerative eye condition could keep their sight for longer thanks to the development of the first treatment for the condition.

After successful trials in the US, a light therapy treatment which claims to help patients maintain or improve their vision is now available in Britain.

There is currently no approved treatment options on the NHS for people with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which causes blurring or distortion to vision and can lead to blindness. Instead, patients are advised to manage the condition with lifestyle changes like eating healthily and stopping smoking.

But now a handful of private clinics are offering a painless, non-invasive light therapy treatment which researchers say could help the condition. An estimated 700,000 people in the UK have AMD, with the condition affecting one in every 200 people over the age of 60 and one in five over the age of 90.

There are two types of AMD, wet and dry. Both involve the deterioration of the macula, a tiny part of the retina at the back of the eye which is vital for our central vision and ability to see fine detail and colour.

Around 90 per cent of AMD patients have the dry form, where the macula deteriorates as retina cells die and are not renewed. And around one in 10 have wet AMD, where abnormal blood vessels grow into the macula.

Treatments are available for wet AMD in the form of regular injections into the eye or light treatment therapy, but there are no existing approved treatments for dry AMD. The new treatment involves a technique called photobiomodulation, uses LED light at different wavelengths to stimulate and reinvigorate cells at the back of the eye.