Implantable Telescope for Macular Degeneration

If you have macular degeneration, you probably aren't reading this blog. However, you might have a family member with macular degeneration. The FDA has now approved the first device, an implantable telescope, that in preliminary studies by the company has helped improve vision for patients with macular degeneration. There is an ongoing study of another several hundred patients to see how they fare. I tend not to be an early adopter for things like this, preferring to look at the complications and outcomes for a few thousand patients studied independently of the company making the device. If this technology works and does not cause a lot of retinal damage itself over time, it may be very helpful in a disease which we can do little about right now.