Because I have wet AMD in my left eye, the center of my vision has become distorted, blurred and discolored. Unlike dry AMD (which I also have), there is a treatment that may help. But, there’s no delicate way to put this, the treatment is to go in to the doctor for monthly injections–into my eye. I am now receiving this treatment.
I’m sure the question is on everyone’s mind: what’s it like to have a needle put into your eyeball? Well, I can confirm that it is unpleasant, but probably not as bad as you’re imagining. It is definitely not as bad as I imagined it would be. Here’s how it goes down.
First I get a full eye exam. They take scans of my retinas. They make me read the eye chart. They do these things every time to determine whether the treatment is working or not.
Then they put drops in my eye. Lots of drops. First to numb my eye. Then to sterilize it. Then I guess they do these things all over again because there are a lot of drops. They really do put an amazing amount of shit in my eye over the course of the whole procedure.
Then the fun begins. They put a Clockwork Orange-style eye speculum on my eye. (Blinking during this procedure would obviously be bad.) Then I have to look up and away and then… yeah you feel it. It’s very similar to what you feel when you get any injection. Only it’s in your eye. What I mean to say is, it’s not all that bad.
After the injection they start on round two of putting a bunch of shit into my eye. I think they are just washing out all of the crap they put in before. I’ll have to ask next time.
Also, there is blood in my eye at the injection site. It looks pretty grim even the day after. But it fades away after a few days.
Is it working? I’ll let you know. They say it can take up to six months before you know.