Macular Degeneration

The macula is where light focuses after passing through the cornea, pupil, and lens. The macula's function is to sense light, and create impulses that are sent through the optic nerve to the brain the macula is responsible for central vision, and your ability to see color, and fine detail when you look directly at an object. Macular degeneration is a disease that affects the central vision. It is the most common cause of vision loss among people over age 60. Macular degeneration generally takes two forms.

Dry, age-related macular degeneration affects 90% of those with the disease. The earliest sign that macular degeneration is beginning is the development of tiny areas in the macula called drusen. This form occurs when the tissue of the macula thins over time. Since the dry form is simply a matter of the macula wearing out with age the loss of central vision tends to be gradual over the years. This form of the disease is more prevalent, but less serious.

Wet age-related macular degeneration affects 10% of those with the disease. In this form, abnormal blood vessels grow underneath the retina. These vessels may leak, and cause scarring, and loss of central vision if any of this damage occurs within the macula, serious and rapid deterioration of the person's Central vision can result. This form accounts for 90% of the most serious loss of vision cases. The dry form of this disease may convert to a wet form at any time. The wet form usually occurs in people who already have the dry form.

The symptoms of Macular degeneration vary depending on the type of macular degeneration such as wet or dry.  Some people at first have no blurring of vision while others may notice a loss of central vision (trouble reading or recognizing faces) while still being able to maintain other activities of daily life. Other symptoms include missing areas of vision, distorted vision or shadows; trouble discerning colors from one another, a loss of contrast sensitivity and a slow recovery of visual function after exposure to bright light.

The Amsler Grid Test is one of the simplest and most effective methods for patients to monitor the health of the macula. The Amsler Grid is essentially a pattern of intersecting lines (identical to graph paper) with a black dot in the middle. The central black dot is used for fixation (a place for the eye to stare at). With normal vision, all lines surrounding the black dot will look straight and evenly spaced with no missing or odd looking areas when fixating on the grid's central black dot. When there is disease affecting the macula, as in macular degeneration, the lines can look bent, distorted and/or missing.

Actual diagnosis should be done by your eye care professional.

Recommendations for prevention and treatment are changing rapidly based on new studies and increases in our knowledge of this condition.  What might have been recommended a few years ago may vary from what we would recommend today.  With that in mind for advice on prevention and treatment please give us a call at (561)391-8300

Macular Degeneration