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jackson5168 Asked November 2010

Are products available to assist with reading or making print larger for someone with Macular Degeneration?

My mother inlaw is around 78 years old. She lives 4150 north of the the greater Kansas City area, and is losing her eye sight, and she is very independent. Part of the family live 5 minutes from their home compared to us, (my husband's mother) 150miles.
Are products available to assist with reading or making print larger?

littletonway Feb 2015
If you have a local Lion's Club check with them for whatever assistance is available. There are many reading aids and other products for help around the house available now. Most of the organizations having to do with visually impairment will come to the home for evaluation and recommendations. I checked them all out when diagnosed 4 years ago but after 2 shots of Avastin in my eye, my vision is fine. I visit my retinalogist every 3 months to monitor any new development...so far so good. My cousin and several friends have had the same experience and we all feel very blessed. We all use different doctors and pray our good fortune lasts a very long time.

Be very careful of those extra strength vitamins; they do have other issues including too much Vitamin A. My doctor said the Centrum Silver I was already taking was just fine. Good luck!

Jason666 Feb 2015
You can ask home demo test to make sure which the CCTV magnifier is suitable for you mom. If you are in the USA, you can call ZOOMAX company about portable video magnifiers test or visit their headquarter for detail products information. Hope it's helpful to you.

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StillSoSad Dec 2014
My Mom went many years with one eye wet and the other dry.
3 years ago, the other eye went wet and now she is legally blind.
She is now 93 years old, kept her driver's license until she lost her 2nd eye, and now is forced to rely on others to get her around.
She had always been so active, rarely missing a day without going somewhere.
I think she felt lost and although she put on a brave face, I believe she probably would have given up on life if she had to go on just sitting around with little to do.
Thank God for the internet! I quickly searched for low vision products, mostly something that could assist her with reading, as that was a pastime that she had always enjoyed and could no longer do. Even the daily paper was read to her and it just isn't the same.
I found a site: https://www.enhancedvision.com/
These folks were wonderful. They will come to your home and demonstrate the products that you are interested in.
I was there when they came, and I didn't feel it was a high-pressure sell at all. The products sell themselves.
I don't know if insurance covers these products - but I imagine there is some way to get help with them. They can be costly (what isn't?), but have made a world of difference for my Mom.
She can now read anything she wants, when she wants to. She can use the same product to watch the birds outside on the lawn, actually giving her a better, closer view than I can see with binoculars!
She remains upbeat and well-informed. Still stays in contact with relatives through letter-writing, and keeps on plugging.
The above mentioned site is just a suggestion as I know there are many other sites that offer the same services. It is just the one that we decided to go with.
I hope this helps.

anonymous158299 Dec 2014
there are many low vision products available . i have a used black and white aladdin that we paid 800.00 for used . the good thing about it is the replacement projector bulbs can be purchased at any hardware store wheras the older machines had soldered in led type bulbs . i suppose id sell it pretty reasonably if the purchaser wanted to walk me thru the process of how to ship it from here in indiana . send me a private message if your interested . the machine looks like an old overhead projector with a tv screen atop of a gliding reading table . the machine works fine . newsprint is blown up to about 3 inches tall ..

pamzimmrrt Dec 2014
My mom was just diagnosed with the dry kind,, she now takes special vitamens 2x a day. They lose the vision in the center first with both kinds, so I think the glasses mentioned above that redirect may be the best bet

Rustylane Dec 2014
She will qualify for "Books for the Blind". You might ask your local library. They will send to her home large print books or braill or cassetts with special player. All Free like the local library. Comes in a special bag. Just turn card around and put in the mail. You can choose books to read or let them choose for you. Look up on internet: Talking Book Library.

Jinx4740 Jul 2013
My mother had detached retina that left her legally blind. I took her to a low vision clinic where they gave her these strange glasses that project the image onto an undamaged part of the retina. It's just the lens that does it. You read the paper or book with your face only an inch or less away from the page. It retrained her retina a little to use the undamaged parts more. It was not a cure, but she actually cried when she saw how well the glasses let her see.

Sooozi Nov 2012
I am unfamiliar with Macular degeneration, but recently we bought my mother a Kindle. It was incredible and she really liked it, even though she was not interested in anything that has to do with computers. She never used her cell phone and never checked email, but she DID use the Kindle.

The new kindle has very good background lighting. Also the type can be enlarged and my mom could purchase things of great interest to her typically about $9 per book but some times she found things of interest that were Free!

Also, when she couldn't sleep at night, mom would turn on the Kindle with a simple swipe of her finger. When she felt sleepy again, she would simply turn the Kindle over and it would turn off by itself and the room would be dark again.

I tried to borrow one from the Library for free, but the waiting list was too long, so we broke down and bought one. It was well worth it... but in some other areas, you may be able to try a Kindle for free through your library.

I hope this is helpful. Best wishes to you and your mom in-law.

janetrae Nov 2012
My mother bought a free-standing magnifier so she could read the newspaper and books. We bought it online, but at Staples I saw a similar magnifier that affixes to a table, which was less money. If you do a search on Amazon you will see many products and reviews by people, who, like yourself, purchased them for relatives.

NancyH Nov 2010
My mother-in-law also has macular degeneration. I know there are two types, dry & wet. She has the wet kind and they were able to stop the progression of it in one of her eyes. One eye is pretty much a basket case, but the other one has been halted from making her totally blind. I would be interested in hearing from you what the doctors have done so far to stop the progression. As far as the visual aids, I just did a search on the internet 'low vision aids' and found lots of stuff.

anonymous14017 Nov 2010
You might want to look into the National Association for the Visually Handicapped at
navh.org
Good Luck.

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