KUCHING: Patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (Wet AMD) continue to face treatment challenges despite the availability of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatments.
According to Dr Nor Fariza Ngah, lack of awareness on the disease and treatment burden which leads to low compliance among patients are some of the challenges faced by ophthalmologists.
Dr Nor who is the National Head of Ophthalmologist Services, Ministry of Health (MoH) disclosed that Wet AMD is a leading cause of severe and irreversible vision loss worldwide which often affects 10 to 13 percent adults of over 65 years old.
Besides age as one of the risk factors of Wet AMD, an individual’s family history, smoking habits, hypertension, poor diet and light exposure could also contribute to the development of the disease.
Among the symptoms of Wet AMD are blurring of vision, reduced color vision, central scotoma (central vision loss) and metamorphopsia (straight lines look bent or crooked).
She said this during a Brolucizumab: New Hope in Sight – Redefining Wet AMD Management in Malaysia via Zoom today.
“In 2019 with the help of ophthalmologists and specialists at Shah Alam Hospital, we conducted a focus group involving patients and their caretaker to evaluate what is their journey towards diagnosis and treatment. We found that lack of awareness exists because of the belief that they think blurry vision in aging population is part of life.
“The treatment is divided into initial phase of monthly injections followed by the maintenance phase which is injections at a longer interval based on response to the treatment. The frequency of treatment would lead to low compliance due to the treatment burden that also may lead to financial constraints and transportation problems,” she said.
Dr Nor noted that another factor was patient’s denial.
“We see this quite often in which patients refuse to accept especially when explaining about the treatment procedure of injection into the eyes. We fear that if they wait too long there will be severe damage when they seek for treatments later,” she said.
Dr Nor said there were patients who had requested to delay their treatments given the current Covid-19 pandemic.
“Starting from last year, we started to see delays in seeking treatment or many requests for postponement of treatment appointment in both new and existing patients due to fear of the Covid-19 virus.
“However, safety measures have been taken such as reducing the number of crowds. Patients need treatment regularly to ensure that they get the best outcome and before they can see the success,” she pointed out.
