anterior membrane dystrophy

I was recently diagnosed with anterior membrane dystrophy and didn't know what quesitons to ask during my visit with the cornea specialist.  My main symptom complaint is exteme blurriness in the left eye.  He said this condition could fluctuate from better to worse.  His treatment suggestion was either I could do nothing if i felt comfortable functioning as is.  Or we could try fitting my eye with a soft contact lens.  He didn't recommend any laser or scraping of the cornea - he said he hasn't had good results with that.  How will wearing a soft contact lens help with this condition especially if my vision will fluctuate.  How to get the right perscription for the eye?   I wonder why he didn't suggest any eye drops of any kind?  Any advise would be appreciated.  Thanks!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Many people with anterior basement membrane disorder (BMD) do not require treatment and it often causes no problem at all.

In some cases it can cause recurrent corneal erosions. The treatment of RCE has been discussed in the two eye forums at length and you can pull them up with the search feature, archives and topics feature.

Large amounts of BMD in the visual axis can reduce vision and it can be treated with superficial eximer laser Rx followed by soft contact lens fitting.

Contact lens will sometimes give better corrected vision than glasses due to BMD causing irregular astigmatism.

If you are not comfortable or satisfied then get a second opinion. Find a second Cornea Eye MD at www.aao.org

JCH III  MD