Understanding Your Baseline: Why It Matters and How ForeseeHome's AI Monitors Changes in Your Vision

One of the most common questions our ForeseeHome team hears from patients is some version of: "What exactly is a baseline, and why does it take so long to establish mine?" It's a great question, and an important one, because your baseline is the foundation that makes ForeseeHome monitoring work. In this article, we'll walk through what a baseline is, why establishing one matters so much, and how the technology behind your device (often referred to as artificial intelligence, or AI) uses that baseline to help protect your sight.

The Early Warning Sign: Metamorphopsia
Patients who have intermediate age-related macular degeneration (AMD) may often have a specific kind of visual distortion which can sometimes be so subtle that it is not readily noticeable by the patient. Straight lines like door frames, window blinds, or the edges of a page, may begin to look wavy, bent, or broken. This distortion is called metamorphopsia, and it happens because of structural changes to the macula. If the intermediate AMD progresses to wet AMD, this distortion can worsen because of abnormal blood vessels associated with wet AMD which leak fluid or blood underneath the retina, physically deforming the delicate layer of light-sensing cells responsible for your central vision.

Metamorphopsia can be subtle at first. It may affect only a small part of your visual field, or it may come and go. Many patients don't notice it in day-to-day life until it has become more pronounced and by then, some vision loss may have already occurred. This is exactly the gap that ForeseeHome is built to assist with: to help your doctor detect conversion to wet AMD before significant visual loss occurs. By testing daily, ForeseeHome can pick up on subtle changes in your vision long before you might notice them on your own, or before your next scheduled visit to your retina specialist.

Why You Need a Baseline
ForeseeHome doesn't just measure whether you have any distortion in your vision; it measures whether your distortion has changed compared to where you started. That "where you started" is what we call your baseline.

Think of your baseline as a personal reference point, unique to your own eyes. Every person's visual system is a little different: the shape of the eye, the pattern of any existing scarring or changes from long-standing dry AMD, and other individual factors can all subtly affect how someone responds to the test. Rather than comparing you to a generic "normal" standard, ForeseeHome first learns what is normal for you. Only once that personal reference point is established can the system reliably detect a meaningful change; one that could indicate the beginning of wet AMD.

Without an accurate baseline, the system would have no fair way to judge whether new test results reflect an actual change in your eye or simply normal variation. This is why we ask every patient to complete baseline testing carefully and consistently before moving into regular monitoring.

How ForeseeHome Establishes Your Baseline
This is where the "AI" part of ForeseeHome comes in. Every time you take a test, the device's computer analyzes your responses and converts them into a numerical score representing the degree of metamorphopsia detected in your vision on that testing day.

When you are first establishing your baseline, the system does not just look at your score in isolation. It compares your score to a large database built from thousands of prior patients who were known not to have wet AMD. This comparison serves as a quality check. If your baseline score falls within the range seen in patients without wet AMD, your baseline is considered successfully established. At that point, you are ready to move into regular, ongoing daily testing, where each new result will be compared against this personal baseline and the large database going forward.

If your score comes back higher than expected, the system will not yet establish a baseline. This does not necessarily mean something is wrong or that you are developing wet AMD. It may simply mean that your particular eye has other characteristics that affect how the test registers, such as pre-existing macular scarring, areas of retinal atrophy from long-standing dry AMD, or other structural factors not related to AMD. Importantly, high scores can happen even if you are completely unaware of any distortion in your own vision; the test can measure visual distortion even when you may not notice a change in your day-to-day vision.

If this happens, please do not be alarmed. Our clinical team will work with you, and in many cases, adjustments can be made so that a reliable baseline can still be established.

Why This Process Is Worth Patience
We understand that baseline testing can sometimes feel repetitive, or that patients are eager to move on to "real" monitoring. But this step is not a formality; it is what makes everything that follows meaningful.

Without that careful comparison point, the device is unable to monitor your eye and send alerts to your doctor who is managing your AMD. The extra time and care taken during baseline testing is ultimately what allows ForeseeHome to begin its important job of monitoring your eye to help your doctor detect a change to wet AMD early while the visual acuity is still good. Detecting conversion early and treating early leads to the best chance of maintaining functional vision.

What Happens After Your Baseline Is Set
Once your baseline is established, you will continue testing regularly. This means we encourage you to continue to test daily from the comfort of home. Each new test result is automatically compared by the system to your personal baseline. If the system detects a meaningful shift with a significant change in scores, often suggesting new or worsening metamorphopsia, an alert is automatically sent to your eye doctor's office.

Your Role in the Process
You play an essential part in making this system work well:

• Test consistently. Daily testing, even when your vision feels unchanged, is what allows ForeseeHome's AI technology to provide sufficient testing data to identify meaningful changes over time.
• Test in good conditions. Proper lighting, wearing your correct distance glasses, and a quiet focused environment, all help to give the best chance of accurate testing results.
• Reach out with questions. If you are unsure why your baseline hasn't been established, or if you notice new visual symptoms at any time, don't wait for the device to catch it; contact your eye care provider directly.