Synonyms

• Age-related macular degeneration, AMD, Amsler grid, angiography, antioxidants, atrophic, autofluorescence, autosomal dominant hemorrhagic macular dystrophy, Best's vitelliform macular dystrophy, CFH, Charles Bonnet syndrome, choroidal neovascularization, CNV, compliment factor H, corticosteroid, disciform degeneration, Doyne's honeycomb retinal dystrophy, drusen, drusenoid, fundus flavimaculatus, implantable optical device, JMD, juvenile macular degeneration, macula, malattia levintinese, mydriasis, mydriatic, nonexudative, obesity, OCT, ophthalmologist, optic nerve, optical coherence tomography, photocoagulation, photodynamic therapy, retina, retinal pigment epithelial detachment, retinal pigment epithelium, rheophoresis, RPE, smoking, Sorsby's fundus dystrophy, Stargardt macular dystrophy, subretinal neovascularization, ultraviolet, UV, vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF, Yannuzzi card.

Background

• Macular degeneration is a degenerative disease of the retina (a thin layer of nerve cells that lines the back of the eyeball) that causes progressive loss of central vision.
• Central vision loss is due to the deterioration of the central part of the retina, known as the macula. The macula is involved in detailed vision. Light sensing cells in the macula, known as photoreceptors, convert light into electrical impulses. Then the impulses are transferred to the brain via the optic nerve. Central vision loss from macular degeneration occurs when photoreceptor cells in the macula degenerate.
• The risk of developing macular degeneration increases with age. The disease most often affects people in their sixties and seventies. Macular degeneration is the most common cause of vision loss in individuals over the age of 60.
• Individuals with macular degeneration may first notice a blurring of central vision that is most apparent when performing visually detailed tasks such as reading and sewing. Blurred central vision may also make straight lines appear slightly distorted or warped. As the disease progresses, blind spots form within central vision. In most cases, if one eye has macular degeneration, the other eye will also develop the disease. The extent of central vision loss varies according to the type of macular degeneration. Individuals can adapt to peripheral vision, or vision out of the corners of the eye, although some visual impairment will exist without central vision.
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Types of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

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Risk Factors and Causes

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Signs and Symptoms

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Diagnosis

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Complications

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Treatment

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Integrative Therapies

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Prevention

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Author Information

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Bibliography

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