LIVINGLIVING
Health economics
At the moment there are only two
treatments available for retinopathy. The
first is laser, which is invasive and causes
permanent damage in itself. The second
is intravitreous injections of the drug
Lucentis, which costs approximately £6k
per year per eye and requires monthly
hospital visits for the injections. This tends
to be recommended in the presence of
diabetic retinal oedema. It is estimated
that something like £260million is spent by
the NHS on injections to treat the effects
of retinopathy, while the cost of laser
treatment has not been clearly quantified.
The Noctura 400 eyemask costs
£250 per three months and treats both
eyes. So that's £1000 per year, or £500
per eye. That represents potentially huge
cost savings, especially if the eyemasks
are introduced early as a preventative
treatment.
The mask has also been shown to
work to reduce the presence of diabetic
macular oedema.
Says Hopkins, "This eyemask is
much more cost-effective than current
treatments and of course aims at
preserving sight, therefore saving much
distress as well."
*SOURCE: Diabetes UK
Although this feature is called Kit That's Coming Soon, that tends to refer to whether
or not this device will ever be available on the NHS. At the moment that is not the
case with the Nocture 400 eyemask, however it is available privately, not directly
from PolyPhotonix but through a number of independent opticians including a homevisiting opthalmology service The Outside Clinic.
One of The Outside Clinic's qualified staff visits your home to talk through the
product, check your eyesight before you go on the eyemask, then reassess your
eye health every three or six months while using the product, the aim of which is to
reduce the progression of retinopathy. In this way you should be able to track the
progress and effectiveness of the eyemask on your eye health.
The Noctura products while currently being developed specifically to treat diabetic
retinopathy is also being considered for use for age-related macular degeneration
and also dry age-related macular degeneration.
Access to Noctura eyemasks
If you would like any more information about
Noctura 400 you can call the Noctura Advisory
Line on 01740 669143, or visit thier website.
Please mention Desang when making contact
about the eyemask.
www.noctura.com
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