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The following video was developed by Apellis, and Dr Holekamp was compensated for her time. This video is not intended to include medical advice. You should consult your doctor with any questions or concerns you have about Geographic Atrophy (GA).

VO: My name is Nancy Holekamp, I am a retina specialist in St. Louis, Missouri, and today I’d like to talk to you about Geographic Atrophy, or GA.

When I speak to my patients about GA, I tell them it is a very advanced form of age-related macular degeneration and the most important risk factors are age and genetics, so family history matters, but other risk factors include diet and obesity.

To be clear, age and family history are the leading risk factors for GA, so you have to have both age and the genetics in order to get GA.

To explain GA, I often show patients their scan like the one you’re seeing now. And here we see little accumulations of waste products called drusen that accumulate in the macula. The macula is just a fancy word for the centre of the retina which is the centre of your vision. In an eye with GA, the drusen are always growing closer to the centre point of vision, which means the GA is always growing closer to the centre point of vision.

So as the drusen grow and enlarge, then collapse into atrophy, they will form regions that you can actually draw a line around, almost like a geographic area or a map, and that’s why we call it Geographic Atrophy.

Atrophy means cell death, so the cells in your retina are slowly dying. Early on you may not notice any change in your vision, but as it progresses it will eventually affect your central vision. Please keep in mind that while you may never lose peripheral vision, GA does cause irreversible vision impairment.

What you’re seeing on the screen right now is an example of a scotoma or a blind spot that will affect your vision over time. But this is just an example; each person experiences GA differently.

While your central vision may be impacted, you should always maintain the ability to move around and take care of basic needs.

However, you may need to make significant life changes and ultimately depend on others for things such as driving. Getting a proper diagnosis of GA is very important. A diagnosis leads to prognosis, which helps you understand how this disease will affect you over time.

Science is learning more and more all the time about GA, and we are becoming more knowledgeable about this disease.

If you have vision symptoms, be sure to call your eye doctor who may refer you to a retina specialist. Seeing a doctor is critical.

The following video was developed by Apellis Pharmaceuticals, and the patient was compensated by Apellis to share her story. It contains the views, opinions, and experience of Santi, a person living with Geographic Atrophy (GA). The video does not include individual treatment or medical advice. You should consult your doctor for medical advice or about any questions and concerns you have about living with GA.

Geographic Atrophy (GA) is the advanced form of Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration (Dry AMD). GA is a leading cause of blindness that affects 5 million people worldwide.

Boyer DS, et al. Retina 2017.

VO: For me, even as a little girl, I was so visual – and I would just thank God just for everything I could see. I’m so amazed at things that are beautiful, and did I know that somewhere down the road I was going to get this diagnosis? I don’t know.

I have Geographic Atrophy in both eyes. Getting this diagnosis terrified me. I was afraid to go to sleep. I didn’t want to wake up and have lost the world. And I think we all get challenges in life, this was mine.

And when the Geographic Atrophy hit, it went down fast. And then things started to disappear, like a phone pole would be crooked and there’d be parts of that pole that I wouldn’t see. And then I was legally blind. I’ve always been very independent and very visual. To think of missing that bird that’s at the feeder or the bunny that crosses the street. If I couldn’t walk my dog.

Going down stairs is very scary because of the depth perception. I fell down my stairs here very badly. I immediately tried to minimize it, but I couldn’t get up. I was really hurting. I thought, “there’s going to be a day when I’m not going to be able to drive.” I sold my house. I moved where I could walk everywhere. You know, all these things to try to troubleshoot but the hard part was the emotional part.

I have to feel useful. I started to go to this orphanage and just working with the kids, talking to them, I started to feel such a sense of peace. I was always a helper. I was always the one taking care of people. I have to find that middle road of being ab­le to ask for help with grace and appreciation.

I hope that it doesn’t come to the point where I don’t see it. You know, I don’t want to miss one sunrise. In every challenge I’ve ever had, there’s always been a gift that hasn’t been apparent right away. But if there always has been, I’m assuming there always will be.

The following video was developed by Apellis, and the patient was compensated to share her story. It contains the views, opinions, and experiences of Susie, a person living with Geographic Atrophy (GA). The video does not include treatment or medical advice. You should consult your doctor with any questions or concerns you have about living with GA.

VO: Hi, I’m Susie, I’m from St. Louis, Missouri. I’m a retired university professor, physical therapist, now an education consultant. I’m a mother, a wife, a grandmother, and I have Geographic Atrophy.

I was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration in 2005 and advanced to a diagnosis of Geographic Atrophy, or GA, in 2014.

I wasn’t familiar with the terms GA but my mother had the condition and she was quite impaired in her later years; she lived to 98.

I have learned so much about GA since I was diagnosed and there are two critical things to know.

One is early diagnosis is really important and the second is the disease is progressive and it will get worse over time.

The very first thing to do after a diagnosis of GA is to ask your doctor to show you the scans of your eyes. If you’re not seeing the scans every time you go to the doctor I suggest that you ask to see them, both sides and the comparisons from previous visits.

My doctor reassures me regularly that although GA is a progressive disease, I won’t lose my vision quickly. I may lose considerable central vision over time.

One of the things that I do to test my own vision is cover my right eye, which is my strong eye, and then I look at certain things that are familiar to me. So when I do that here, the camera is now blank, but I can see there is a camera.

It’s really important to mention proactively any changes you see to your doctor. I’m really fortunate to have my doctor who explains the condition and the science behind it very simply to me and very regularly. You and your doctor aren’t the only ones who should talk about the diagnosis of GA. It’s an invisible disease to everyone around you, so talking with your family and friends about your needs is very important after the initial diagnosis.

And this is an adjustment that I think people should make – plan ahead for loss of vision. It’s very important to plan ahead and not lose hope.

For example, I’ve been memorizing the feeling of the fabric of my clothing for when it may be more difficult to identify their colours.

So stay positive, stay engaged. Always keep in touch with your retina specialist if you have concerns about your vision or GA.