AGE RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION

If your eye were a camera, the front part of the eye is the lens of the camera and the back part of the eye is the film of the camera. The lens of the camera is similar to the lens in the eye. The lens develops cataracts. The film of the camera is similar to the retina. The center of the retina is called the macula and it does most of the detailed vision. The macula develops macular degeneration. Dry Macular degeneration is wear and tear to the retina like cracks in the sidewalk. Wet macular degeneration is when blood vessels grow up through the retina like weeds through the cracks in the sidewalk.

The inner layer of the eye is the retina, which contains nerves that communicate sight, and behind the retina is the choroid, which contains the blood supply to the retina. In the dry (non-exudative) form, cellular debris called drusen accumulate between the retina and the choroid, and the retina can become detached. In the wet (exudative) form, which is more severe, blood vessels grow up from the choroid behind the retina, and the retina can also become detached. It can be treated with laser coagulation, and with injectable medication that stops and sometimes reverses the growth of blood vessels.

Age related macular degeneration is a condition usually of older adults which results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field (the macula) because of damage to the retina. At first it may be difficult to tell the difference between a 6 and an 8. It may make it difficult to read or see details. If it advances, it is a major cause of blindness in the elderly. Macular degeneration can make it difficult or impossible to read or recognize faces, although enough peripheral vision remains to allow other activities of daily life.

Although some macular dystrophies affecting younger individuals are sometimes referred to as macular degeneration, the term generally refers to age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD).

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of vision loss in individuals over the age of 50. The name of the condition derives from its cause: damage to the macula, the most sensitive spot on the retina, required for clarity in the center of the visual field. The macula transmits electrical signals through the optic nerve to the brain. Damage to the macula results in retinal tissue degeneration that gradually worsens, diminishing or destroying central vision.

The speed at which AMD advances is variable. In some patients, the condition progresses slowly and the changes in vision are imperceptible for some time. In others, the disease moves at an accelerated pace, leading relatively quickly to loss of central vision in one or both eyes. While AMD does not result in complete blindness because some peripheral vision always remains, it does make ordinary activities, particularly those that require close visual acuity, increasingly difficult.