‘Telescope’ offers AMD sufferer Gerald a new lease of life
Gerald Morris from Huddersfield is a very young 70 who suffered with macular degeneration, the most common cause of sight loss in the over 50s - and he was losing his sight.
Keen golfer, Gerald was one of the first in the
UK to have a telescopic lens implanted in his eyes - the pioneering IOL VIP (intra-ocular lens for visually impaired patients) treatment. He has had astounding results and has gone from a starting point of being at legal blindness and not even being able to recognise faces in a room to seeing very nearly well enough to classify as ‘normal’ and very close to driving standard! The
Yorkshire
Eye
Hospital is one of the first hospitals in
UK to offer this advanced lens implant treatment which involves the surgical implantation of a pair of lenses that divert the image away from the damaged macular and onto a healthy part of the retina using the principals of the Galilean telescope.
The IOL VIP treatment is also a potential lifeline for the thousands who suffer from macular degeneration. The treatment gives hope to sufferers for whom, up until now, there has been no effective treatment.
Gerald, who is a retired mechanical engineer with ICI, was treated by Shafiq Rehman, consultant ophthalmologist at
Yorkshire
Eye
Hospital . He said: “Gerald’s sight has improved significantly and his treatment could be a lifeline to so many people like him.
“Each year in the
UK around 17000-18000 people are registered partially or severely sight impaired due to AMD. It is possible that around half of such patients could be able to benefit from these implants. I think telescopic implants in the form of IOL-VIP and perhaps further developments in the future will become an important part of the management of these conditions.”
Gerald has been amazed by the results of his treatment and now he has not only resumed his hobby of golf at Huddersfield where he is a member, but can now even see the TV for the first time for a long time.
Gerald said: “Playing golf, I couldn’t see the ball and had to rely on spotters to help me play the sport I love. TV and now I can which is a major bonus for me.
Gerald lives in Holmfirth,
Huddersfield with his wife Patricia and he has two grown up daughters. He also has a 4 year old spaniel that takes a lot of walking and he is looking forward to resuming exercising his dog too.
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