A novel study has revealed that combining the drug ranibizumab, or Lucentis, with laser therapy, has two times more efficacy at combating blindness for those surviving with diabetic macular edema.

The researchers have developed a new treatment aimed for diabetic macular edema, a serious blinding disorder that engulfs nearly 1 million Americans, researchers posted Tuesday.

"This will have a major impact on how ophthalmologists will treat macular edema in people with diabetes," quoted, Dr. Neil M. Bressler of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University, who led the study.

The new treatment makes use of a drug called ranibizumab, which when taken in combination with laser phototherapy shows robust results in improving vision loss as laser therapy alone.

The findings were published online in the journal Ophthalmology.

Macular edema is a kind of a diabetic retinopathy, which is cited to be a major common cause behind loss of vision in working-age people. It causes leakage of small blood vessels in the retina, the light-sensitive portion of the eye.