SAN DIEGO -- Wet macular degeneration is an eye disease that is the major cause of blindness in this country.

Now, doctors are making enormous strides with new treatments and a novel imaging device that is giving doctors a more precise way to keep the disease in check.

Elizabeth Ackerman has wet macular degeneration, an incurable eye disease that is caused by the deterioration of the central portion of the retina. The retina is the inside back layer of the eye that records images we see and sends them by way of the optic nerve from the eye to the brain.

"Your eyes play all kinds of tricks on you when you have this disease," said Ackerman. "I could not drive without my hand shaking and me breaking put in cold sweats."

But after a few months of treatment with an experimental medication called Avastin, Ackerman said she has regained some vision.

"Every day, I see more improvement, and nothing could be more exciting," said Ackerman.

Doctors could closely monitor her improvement with this innovative imaging device for the eye called optical coherence tomography, or OCT.

"It gives us information as to who to treat with what drug and how well they are doing and when to retreat them in a way that's not been previously possible," said Dr. William Freeman of the University of California, San Diego Jacobs Retina Research Center.

The Jacobs Retina Research Center is only one of two places in the world using the OCT scan.

The diagnostic device makes an image of individual cells in the retina, giving doctors a more precise way to target abnormal blood vessels that cause the disease.

"It will tell us who is getting better before they can see the improvement in their vision because the fluid in the retina and changes start to go away before vision improves," said Freeman.

As Ackerman’s vision continues to improve, researchers are making daily advances with this new diagnostic tool.

"This is a tool that is evolving, and it’s kind of akin to your digital camera; there is always a better one," said Freeman.

The combination of new drug therapies and innovative technology is transforming the lives of Ackerman and others living with macular degeneration.

Avastin is a new treatment for macular degeneration, but it is a drug normally used to fight cancer.

The Jacobs Retina Research Center is studying many new approaches to treating macular degeneration and other eye diseases.

For more information about the center’s research, contact Freeman at 858-534-3513 or visit the center’s Web site at eyesite.ucsd.edu.