We frequently are asked questions about the ForeseeHome device and how it works. This month we start with:
Why do the lines on the ForeseeHome test flash so quickly?
The cause of decreased vision in wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is abnormal blood vessels that can leak fluid or blood into the retina, the portion of our eye responsible for sight. When that leakage and/or blood affects the very center of our eye, we suffer decreased vision.
ForeseeHome was developed to detect visual distortion associated with these abnormal vessels and leakage early before significant vision loss occurs, allowing for early treatment of wet AMD to give you the best chance of maintaining good vision. As we know, the best predicter of long-term good vision is good vision at the start of treatment.
The macula is the center of the retina and in the very center of the macula is the fovea, where we can see the sharpest. If leakage is detected early before the fovea is involved, or even when leakage has just begun in the fovea, treatment can be started early and often vision can be preserved. It is therefore important in monitoring intermediate AMD patients to have a way to monitor the eye so that wet AMD can be detected early.
To do this, your eye doctor has added the ForeseeHome AMD Monitoring Program to their standard care to help them manage your intermediate AMD. As part of the program, the device you use at home should be used daily if possible, to test your vision. The device presents lines in many parts of your central vision, including areas away from the very center of your vision.
Images presented in the surrounding macular area are not quite as sharp and clear as those in the center. Because your brain wants to see images as clearly as possible, it automatically wants your eyes to look over at the lines presented during the test.
The ForeseeHome test was designed so that the lines are visible just long enough for you to see them in multiple areas of your macula, not just the very center, and then disappear. They do not stay long enough to allow your brain to get you to look over at the lines. This allows the device’s algorithm to map not just the very center of the macula, or the fovea, but an important portion of the surrounding macula area as well, which all affect how well you can see.
While the lines do flash quickly, remember that you can take as long as you need to move your mouse to click on where you saw the bump or wave on the line. The next line will only appear after you move your mouse cursor back to the center dot.
Stay tuned for next month’s newsletter with more answers to your questions! If you have a question you’d like answered in the newsletter, click here to submit.
