Anyone here have eye injections to treat wet macular degeneration?

[Sleepy]

My husband just found out he has a condition acting very similar to wet macular degeneration. He is required to receive 3 injections (1 each month for 3 months). We think he may be receiving Lucentis, but need to verify.

I have a few questions....

How painful was it?
Which drug was used?
Was treatment successful?
What was the cost per injection?
Any complications?

Any other information you can add would be very appreciated. We are walking around in a fog with this.

 

[SundaeAfternoon]

Wow, what a coincidence...my coworker was just telling me this morning that her mom was diagnosed with this and has to start the injections in five months.

Sorry to hear about your husband. I just couldn't imagine dealing with that. Of course, I have a severe eye phobia, so this would be worse than death for me.

 

[Sleepy]

Wow, what a coincidence...my coworker was just telling me this morning that her mom was diagnosed with this and has to start the injections in five months.

Sorry to hear about your husband. I just couldn't imagine dealing with that. Of course, I have a severe eye phobia, so this would be worse than death for me.

Yeah, this has really caught us by surprise. The symptom happened so suddenly. One day he complained that reading the computer screen at work was difficult and things looked distorted out of the left eye. I did research on the net and found a graph with a black dot in the center. Everything in the lower left quadrant is bowed. He says it is like looking through a fish bowl. I feared wet MD, but the opthalmologist said it was not that, but a condition that works the exact same way.

 

[castleview]

I'm curious about this myself as I have too much druzin in my eyes for my age. Is this similar?

 

[Saxton]

My husband just found out he has a condition acting very similar to wet macular degeneration. He is required to receive 3 injections (1 each month for 3 months). We think he may be receiving Lucentis, but need to verify.

I have a few questions....

How painful was it?
Which drug was used?
Was treatment successful?
What was the cost per injection?
Any complications?

Any other information you can add would be very appreciated. We are walking around in a fog with this.

My father has had the injections. They will put a series of drops in his eye along with q-tips soaked in something to deaden it (placed underneath the eyelid). My father said that he felt a bit of pressure but it wasn't painful. It takes a while for the drops and q-tips before the injection so don't expect to be in and out quickly. His injections have been covered by insurance so there was no cost. And it's been working - he hasn't needed another shot for quite a while now. He received Avastin and I would say he probably had 3 or 4 shots all together, approximately every 8 weeks. As I recall Lucentis was more expensive but the doctor felt that Avastin was a better option for him anyway. He'll have a patch on his eye for a few hours and will probably have to put some drops in for a while. I took my father for each of the injections and the actual shot was fairly quick, the preparation was long and tedious but not painful.

 

[mousefanmichelle]

My father has wet and we did the injections and laser and none of them worked - it has progressed in both eyes and he is very nearly blind dead on. Truly sad. We did the injections and they numbed the eye so that the actual shot wasn't painful. He did get uncomfortable later in the afternoon and had to rest. For about a week after his vision was blurred but finally became as clear as it was going to get. My dad got the same medicine injected.

Good luck!!

 

[melk]

My mother had the injection once for her macular. She had wet in one eye and dry macular in both eyes. So I'm guessing they injected the eye with the wet macular. I don't recall what the drug was, but my mom was quite nervous beforehand, but they numbed it and she said it was fine, it didn't hurt. Then we went out to dinner afterwards! I'm sure your husband will be just fine.

 

[DizBelle]

EYE injections!?!?!?!?! They stick a NEEDLE in your EYE!?!?!?!?!?!?

ACCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!


I guess I could deal if I had to but I'd rather not think about it.

 

[Savanah'sMom]

EYE injections!?!?!?!?! They stick a NEEDLE in your EYE!?!?!?!?!?!?

ACCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!


I guess I could deal if I had to but I'd rather not think about it.

What she/he said!!!

 

[Sleepy]

Thanks everyone for the responses. He is more worried about pain than anything.

castleview- I am not sure. They never said anything about what you mentioned. I hope you are able to find proper medical attention for your condition.

saxton- Thanks for the detailed info. The reason why I think they will be using Lucentis is because the injections alone will cost us 1000 Euro. I looked up some info and found the Lucentis to be appx $1500 per injection wholesale, so if you go by the exchange rate, that is about the same price. If that isn't bad enough, we were told the use of the operating room, etc will be another 900 Euro per injection. I really thought this was something that could be done in an office setting, not an operating room. Insurance does not kick in until we pay UP FRONT. That is about $2,700 a month This is why I was wondering if anyone knew the total cost of each injection/visit. I just wanted the info for comparison in America.

mousefanmichelle- I am so sorry to hear about your dad. It must be so very difficult for him. Make sure you have your own eyes checked frequently.

melk- Sounds like a piece of cake! Thanks for sharing. It puts us at ease.

ifontaine/Savanah'smom- I agree. Sounds terrible, but you would be surprised what you can endure when the alternative is blindness.

 

[allison443]

I had a family member that received injections of Avastin. Avastin is made by the same company that makes Lucentis, but using Avastin for the eyes is an "off label use". Recently we heard that the company is trying to discourage the use of Avastin, it is about 10 times cheaper than Lucentis.
Anyway in our case the shots were done right in the doctor's office.
It was very successful!!!

I see you are in Europe so I am not sure about the use of the different drugs there, and whether it would be the same.

Is your dh seeing a retina specialist?

Good luck and I hope you get a good result.

 

[allison443]

EYE injections!?!?!?!?! They stick a NEEDLE in your EYE!?!?!?!?!?!?

ACCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!


I guess I could deal if I had to but I'd rather not think about it.

Well, unfortunately some people have to think about it or they will go blind. Thanks for your contribution to the discussion though!

 

[kacaju]

my mil has had the injections and as others have said. she said it was not as bad as it sounds!!good luck to your dh!!

 

[Sleepy]

allison- thanks for the info. I read where lucentis is used here in Europe. I also read that the company is trying to get away from Avastin because it was not originally meant for use in the eye, but now they have lucentis for that. of course, depending on the case, one might be better than the other and have nothing to do with cost. However, from a business point of view, I can understand why the company would want to discourage use of the cheaper for the eyes. My husband went to his appt alone , so I will have to verify what specialty this doc has. He has never had anything worse than a cold, so he does not understand the importance of being well informed.

kacaju- Thank you for letting me know of your mom's experience.