![]() ![]() “One day I was driving down Central Expressway, and I saw the Retina Foundation sign,” Munir remembers. As a direct result, enhanced formula containing DHA is now sold worldwide. And the Foundation has made numerous groundbreaking discoveries over the past three decades, including that DHA in mother’s milk is necessary for infant eye and brain development. ![]() Patients are referred to RFSW by ophthalmologists from Dallas, around the U.S., and even throughout the world. Luckily, one of the leading organizations in that quest - the Retina Foundation of the Southwest (RFSW) - calls Dallas home.Įstablished in 1975, RFSW is an independent, non-profit research institute that has grown into one of the leading independent vision research centers in the United States, with a staff of 28 dedicated to finding the causes, treatments and potential cures for blinding eye diseases. That is why Munir has made it his personal mission to do all he can to advance AMD research, investing his time, talents and financial support. “The question now is how long will it last?” “I am the poster boy for Eylea,” Munir quips. However, he knows it is not a long-term solution. ![]() Eylea has kept Munir’s vision stabilized at 20/25 – 20/30 in his right eye and 20/30 – 20/40 in his left eye, allowing him to maintain his quality of life and active career. Once again, Munir was one of the first to try the treatment, and it worked. “The injections would work initially and then wear off.”Ībout that time, another new AMD drug - Eylea - was showing promise, and TRA vitreoretinal specialist Karl Csaky, M.D., Ph.D., was one of the leading researchers in its use for AMD. “My eyes and vision were like a yo-yo,” he remembers. Each worked for awhile, but neither was the answer. ![]() Munir began eye injections of the breakthrough drugs Avastin and then later Lucentis. Luckily, new treatments continued to emerge, and Munir was eager to try each one. The damage in the left eye was too close to his central vision to safely administer the laser treatment so the TRA team tried a new development in AMD treatment at the time - photodynamic therapy. Then, about two years after the diagnosis in his right eye, the disease began attacking Munir’s left eye. It kept the disease from progressing and restored his vision to 20/20 for about eight or nine years. Not one to miss a beat, Munir quickly began laser treatments on his right eye - the best treatment available for AMD at the time. What’s weird, is that most of them are over 70, and you are 48.” Fish responded, “You know all those people you saw in the waiting room? They have the same thing. Fish point blank, “So, have I got something weird?”ĭr. Gary Edd Fish, M.D., at Texas Retina Associates (TRA) had cared for Munir’s mother so Mickey made an appointment with him.ĭuring the exam, Munir remembers asking Dr. His optometrist at the time knew there was an issue with his right eye and referred him to a neuro-ophthalmologist who determined Munir had a retina issue. AMD eventually robbed his mother of her quality of life, rendering her unable to drive and stealing away her favorite pastime - reading. He had watched his mother suffer from age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disease that results in damage to the tissue responsible for a person’s central vision and is the leading cause of vision loss in older adults. They appeared to be curving and then straightening right before my eyes. “All of a sudden the blinds on my office window were distorted. “As an architect, I live in a world of straight lines,” shares Munir. Dallas custom home builder Mickey Munir remembers vividly the day he looked up at the mini blinds in his office and saw the normally straight rows move in a wave in the middle. ![]()
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