Continuity of Eye Care With Home Vision Monitoring During COVID-19

Eye clinic visits have declined sharply in the COVID-19 era of social distancing, threatening the sight of thousands of people with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread worldwide, people began isolating or limiting their interactions with healthcare providers. More than 10 000 people are estimated to be at risk of irreversible vision loss in the UK alone due to missed care during the lockdown. The risk of vision loss is particularly pronounced in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) because many rely on continual treatment to preserve their eyesight.

According to Jill Hopkins, Global Head of Ophthalmology, Personalised Healthcare at Roche–Genentech, who is working closely with the University of Birmingham and Moorfields Eye Hospital, the canceled visits are “putting tremendous stress on both physicians and patients in terms of what do we do.