Valeda is the first approved device for the treatment of Dry Age-related Macular Degeneration.
Dry AMD is a progressive disorder and the leading cause of visual impairment and blindness in people over 50 in the developed world.
People with macular degeneration experience severely distorted vision and loss of colours that makes it very difficult to read and recognise faces. Considering that one-third of all you perceive comes via the eyes, this would make a huge difference to quality of life. Unfortunately, by the time the symptoms of AMD are obvious, it can be too late to do anything about it.
Barnard Levit Optometrists offers the Valeda Treatment by LumiThera for dry AMD, which utilises Photobiomudulation (PBM) to apply specific wavelengths of light to the macula. This is the first evidence-based treatment for Dry AMD, and clinical studies have shown that Valeda may improve vision and slow down the progression of macular degeneration.
There are a number of tests that your optometrist can use to examine your retina generally and macula in particular. In addition to viewing the macula with a slit lamp microscope and taking an image with Optomap, the Zeiss Cirrus OCT is used to provide a very definitive assessment of the macula, prior to carrying out any treatment or diagnosis.
Please click below to view our patient leaflet and research papers.