For a person with Macular Degeneration, the world can look much like a Dali painting. Lines ooze from one form to another, and faces are distant and blurred, as it conjured in a dream.

Local Opthalmologists, Adrian Laviña and Mark Michels have been helping to bring their patients back to reality. For the past three years, they have contributed to research of a drug to treat the west form of macular degeneration.

Developed by biotechnology research company, Genentech, Inc., Lucentis has proved to be the only treatment to improve vision after the onset of wet macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people over 65.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug June 30, and the two doctors - partners in Retina Care Specialists in Wellington and Palm Beach Gardens are among retina specialists nationwide who tested it for Genentech.

Laviña said and Michels worked as clinical investigators, to ensure that quality data were collected and reported to Genentech and the FDA. The started recruiting candidates in 2003.

"At first it was a best-kept secret. But now it is really exciting to see that our work has borne fruit," he said.

Macular Degeneration destroys cells in the macular, a membrane in the retina essential to central vision and discerning fine detail. It most likely is caused by genetic and environmental factors, according to researchers.

Most people with macular degeneration have the dry form, which causes the breakdown of the light-sensing cells in the macula and a gradual loss of central vision. Dry macular degeneration can turn wet, with abnormal growth and leakage of blood vessels in the retina.

Atlantis resident Carole Ann Crews, 69, began to experience the onset of macular degeneration last October. She works fulltime at McKeen Towers/Lourdes Pavilion retirement home in West Palm Beach, drives frequently and describes herself as "very independent".

"The fact that I have to curtail some of that was very frightening," Crews said. Living with the disease, she said, "was like looking underwater."

Before the FDA's approval of Lucentis, doctors commonly used Visudyne, a drug approved in 2001 that is injected into the arm and used in conjunction with laser eye surgery.

The drug Macugen became popular in 2004 because it could be used in more people. But unlike Lucentis, it targets only one factor that causes macular degeneration, and it yielded the same lackluster effects as Visudyne. It slowed progression but did not reverse it.

"Both treatments were better than doing nothing," Laviña said. "The disease got less worse, but it still got worse."

Lucentis is injected into the eye and blocks the activity of all known catalysts of wet macular degeneration, specifically VEGF-A, a vascular growth factor known to play a key role in the formation of blood vessels.

Crews described the injection as uncomfortable, but not painful. Since she underwent treatment, her vision has improved from 20/200 to 20/25. Her left eye is afflicted with dry macular degeneration for which there is no known treatment other than supplemental vitamins. She does not consider herself visually impaired.

For patients with wet macular degeneration, the price of keeping one's vision is $1,950 per treatment, with one treatment per month for four months and at least three, less frequent treatments afterward.

Laviña estimates that additional fees add $200 to the price. Medicare is the only health plan that covers Lucentis' cost, he said.

In many ways, what we've achieved is great but it's only the beginning," Laviña said. "The day that Lucentis is available for everyone will ge a great day for people with macular degeneration."