Empowered Patient Podcast Treating Diabetic Macular Edema with Slow Dissolving Steroid Pellet Injected into the Eye with Dr. David Dyer Alimera Sciences
Dr. David Dyer is the Chief Retina Specialist for Alimera Sciences, a publicly-traded company specializing in the development and commercialization of prescription ophthalmology treatments for the management of retinal diseases. Having high blood sugar over time can damage the retinal blood vessels that bring nutrients to the retina, creating diabetic retinopathy. Alimera has developed a delivery platform to inject their drug Iluvien into the eye to treat the resulting diabetic macular edema.
David explains, "So with retinal diseases, you're usually talking about diseases within the nerve fiber layer of the retina, the retinal vessels, or in the tissue that is underneath the retina that supports some of the retinal function. And that includes diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, vein occlusions, sometimes you can get detachments of the retina, and there are many other disorders, but those are the most common."
"The treatment for diabetic macular edema typically involves injecting medications into the eye. That sounds horrible, but we can actually numb up the eye, usually, with a series of numbing drops, and with a very tiny needle, we can inject medicine into the center of the eye, and that medicine diffuses into the retina."
"Iluvien is a sustained-release steroid. It's a little pellet, like a little tiny piece of rice, and we can inject that into the eye in the office, and it slowly dissolves over a period of three years, and it releases a steroid into the eye. The steroid works specifically on diabetic macular edema or the swelling in the central vision, and it decreases swelling."
@AlimeraSciences $ALIM #Iluvien #NewDayStudy #DMEandME #DiabeticMacularEdema #Ophthamology #Diabetes #Vision