Not a lot of people aware of this but diabetes mellitus may cause serious complications and eye disorders. Neovascular wet AMD – age-related macular degeneration in adult people; diabetic retinopathy; lessen in visual acuity due to diabetic macular edema following retinal vein occlusion (RVO); myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV) – this is just a small part of eye conditions that appear pretty often in patients.
Thankfully, there is a solution for all those troubles. Lucentis ranibizumab injection – an innovative product for eye treatment recommended by hundreds of healthcare professionals. Let’s learn more about this medication and why it is so popular nowadays.
What is Lucentis?
Lucentis is medicine by Novartis Pharma used to treat various eye-related problems caused by diabetes mellitus. An active substance of the injection is ranibizumab. It can make the appearance of abnormal new blood vessels in the eyes slower, thus prevent decreased vision or a complete vision loss. Lucentis is often compared with Avastin medication; however, doctors mainly use Lucentis in their clinics due to its positive results.
The injection usually comes in a package with the prefilled syringe with a syringe cap, vial contents, and a thin injection needle. The solution in the syringe should always be clear, without sediment and foreign particles.
Everything about the procedure for blood vessels
The intravitreal injection procedure with the help of Lucentis should be performed once a month for the first three months after the treatment starts. Then, it stops in order to check the results and let the medication do its job and start improving the eye condition in person. If the results are not satisfying, the injection session is repeated one more time. It is important to have at least a one-month pause between every administration.
Before the actual treatment, a pre-appointment is required to define a Lucentis dose and the nature of the vision problem together with the eye doctor. Before the procedure, disinfection of the eyelid skin and in zones around the eyes is required. Usually, antimicrobial drugs should be instilled into the conjunctival sac three days before and after the treatment.
Prior to the Lucentis injection, numbing eye drops are used on the person. The remedy is administered into the vitreous body; the patient may experience increase intraocular pressure and mild discomfort, but it is a normal thing for such a procedure. Afterward, the person should be monitored by the doctor because some instant side effects after the treatment are possible.
Side effects and contraindications
As with all medications, Lucentis injections may cause several side effects every patient should be aware of. They include mild eye pain, anemia, increased level of anxiety, headache, allergic reactions (such as swelling, itching, and eye redness), nausea, eye irritation, intraocular inflammations, retina damage, visual disturbances, etc.
Severe symptoms include blindness, injection site hemorrhage, endophthalmitis, corneal edema, keratopathy, troubles related to blood clots, and others. The doctor should be informed if any problems appeared because the patient may need medical help or special treatment.
People with the following issues cannot use Lucentis for eye treatment: breast feeding or pregnant women, people with the suspicion or confirmed eye infection, intraocular inflammation, allergies or hypersensitivity to any components of the injectable solution, people younger than 18 years of age. The analog should be chosen instead of Lucentis to avoid dangerous consequences and complications (in some patients, even strokes are possible).
The patient has to be informed by the doctor about all the possible adverse reactions in advance, in case there would be more minor troubles after the treatment. The specialist’s assistance is required during the recovery process as well to make sure everything is healing correctly.
Final Word
Lucentis is an excellent medication for improving the eye health of those with diabetes mellitus, as well as other troubles. The effectiveness of this remedy was proved by the years of practice and positive results. Some people were even able to see again after the years of blindness thanks to the Lucentis. The doctor’s assistance is always needed if this medicine was chosen for the treatment. In case you have any questions – a consultation with the doctor is always required. Thanks for reading and stay safe!