VIDEO: Eye care providers need to be aware of geographic atrophy treatments

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I think awareness on both the part of the patients and the clinicians is important when it comes to geographic atrophy. Currently we know that a majority of geographic atrophy patients are being seen by optometrists. They aren’t routinely followed by retina specialists because for the longest time we haven’t really had anything to offer them in the way of treatment, and a lot of it was lifestyle modifications and monitoring and so that was done often outside of a retina clinic. And so, patients sometimes weren’t aware of their diagnosis until there was really an impact on their visual function or their visual acuity. A lot of times they were being monitored in the context of other ocular comorbidities or routine eye exams, and so until it made an impact on their vision, it may have just been something that was noted on imaging. But similar to glaucoma, we currently don’t have a way to reverse vision loss once it starts. But we do have something now to slow the progression with currently available treatments, so treating early is important. I think discussing imaging findings with patients early is important, and even risk factor modification is important, such as smoking cessation and diet modification. And then in terms of awareness for clinicians, even though retina specialists are typically the ones administering these drugs that are now available, as I mentioned, the geographic atrophy patients are often being followed outside of a retina setting. So, having our colleagues and comprehensive ophthalmology and optometry aware of what’s out there is important so that patients are referred at the right time to consider treatment.