May 1, 2009 8:52 pm US/Pacific
Local Woman Loses Sight, Regains It With Treatment
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ―
A local woman who was blind can now see. More than eight million Americans suffer from Macular Degeneration and CBS13 found out that timely treatment can help some of the most severe cases.
There is a treatment that can save people's vision, sometimes even give it back, but there is only a short window before blindness is permanent.
A billboard didn't look right, it was the first sign something was wrong. Within hours, Phyllis Deloe was blind, but made a common mistake and didn't call a doctor.
"I had been coughing and thought I had broken a blood vessel and it would clear up in an hour or so," Phyllis tells CBS13.
The next day, while her family urged her to contact a doctor, she contacted the UC Davis Eye Center. Dr. David Telander diagnosed her with Wet Macular Degeneration.
The condition causes ruptured blood vessels or leakage in the back of the eye, the retina.
For most people this results in the patient losing the center of their vision.
Dr. Telander began giving Phyliss the drug Lucentis.
"In the past, vast majorities continued to lose their vision over time. With this new treatment, 30 percent of people's vision improves. It is the first treatment ever to improve vision with macular degeneration," explains Dr. Telander.
The treatment doesn't help everyone; Dry Macular Degeneration, the slow degenerate of cell in the back of the eye, is not reversible. But in wet Macular Degeneration, medicine removes the fluid.
Early treatment for Phyliss resulted in the difference between a life in the dark versus the light.
"My vision is better than it's ever been," Phyliss tells CBS13.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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