For patients dealing with age-related macular degeneration, making a change in diet, adding an AREDS2 supplement as part of the daily routine and taking advantage of specific diagnostic testing can help prevent the disease from progressing further.
An AREDS2 formula, such as any of the ones offered by VisiVite, is suggested. The AREDS2 research by the National Eye Institute proved the benefit of a high-dose nutritional supplement formula for patients dealing with intermediate or late macular degeneration.
Switching to a Mediterranean diet has also been found to reduce the risk of macular degeneration progressing to the wet form from 25% to 40%. Mediterranean diets are diets that are rich in green, leafy vegetables, nuts, legumes and fish.
Testing is valueable, including retinal photographs, ocular coherence tomography (OCT) imaging, and the DeepSeeNet learning model, which automatically classifies a patient's macular degeneration by assessing color fundus photographs to determine the severity of macular degeneration. Each of these tests can help to determine the risk the patient has for developing late stage macular degeneration and how to modify treatment.