Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) involves damage to the macula and affects central vision. Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading cause of sight loss.
How AMD affects vision?
The macula is a small, but extremely important area located at the centre of the retina, the light-sensing tissue that lines the back of the eye. It is responsible for seeing fine details clearly.
If you have age related macular degeneration, you lose the ability to see fine details, both close-up and at a distance. This affects only your central vision. Your side, or peripheral, vision usually remains normal. For example, when people with age related macular degeneration look at a clock, they can see the clock’s outline but cannot tell what time it is; similarly, they gradually lose the ability to recognise people’s faces.
There are two types of age-related macular degeneration, dry and wet. Both typically happen later in life and are rare under 50 years of age.
Dry Macular degeneration
Most people (about 75%) have a form called “early” or “dry” AMD, which develops when there is a build-up of waste material under the macula and thinning of the retina at the macula. Most people with this condition have near normal vision or milder sight loss.
A minority of patients with early (dry) AMD can progress to the vision-threatening forms of AMD called late AMD.
Dry age-related macular degeneration causes a gradual deterioration of the macula, usually over many years, as the retinal cells die off and are not regenerated. The damage is irreversible. The progression of dry age-related macular degeneration varies but in most people it develops over many months or years. Often people carry on as normal for some time.
Macular degeneration affects a person’s central vision. Visual tasks such as reading can become increasingly difficult. If you have age-related macular degeneration in one eye, it may affect the other eye within a few years.
Around 10 to 15% of people with dry age-related macular degeneration develop wet age-related macular degeneration.
Wet Macular Degeneration
The commonest form of late AMD is “exudative” or “wet” AMD. Wet AMD occurs when abnormal blood vessels grow underneath the retina. These unhealthy vessels leak blood and fluid, which can prevent the retina from working properly. Eventually the bleeding and scarring can lead to severe permanent loss of central vision, but the eye is not usually at risk of losing all vision (going ‘blind’) as the ability to see in the periphery remains. In wet age-related macular degeneration, abnormal new blood vessels grow into the macula region. This is less common than dry macular degeneration and represents only 10-15% of all macular degeneration diagnosed.
These blood vessels are weak and often leak blood or fluid which leads to scarring of the macula and rapid loss of central vision.
There is a rarer form of late AMD called geographic atrophy, where vision is lost through severe thinning or even loss of the macula tissue without any leaking blood vessels.
Wet age-related macular degeneration can develop very suddenly. It can now be treated if caught quickly.
Diagnosis
Multicolour advanced scan
Having your eyes regularly scanned will help detect the earliest signs of change. OCT scanning helps spot the earliest of changes first. If such changes are found and are treatable (in the case of wet macular degeneration) then early treatment can dramatically improve the effectivity of the treatment.
If you have been diagnosed with macular degeneration, make sure you have your eyes examined and scanned once a year or immediately if you notice any visual deterioration.
The best OCT scan for detecting and monitoring Macular Degeneration is again the Autofluorescence scan. Autofluorescence analyses the cellular activity of your retina, detecting retinal and macular degeneration earlier than ever before leading to more efficient treatment.
Tips to help slow down the onset of macular degeneration
Healthy eating: Very important as your diet can impact on the long-term health of your eyes. Conditions such as macular degeneration and cataracts can be influenced by what you eat. Research by the macular disease society shows that antioxidants in fruit and vegetables protect the eye against age-related damage.
Have questions or concerns about your eye health? Feel free to get in touch with our dedicated team of experts. We‘re here to help you see the world more clearly”. Contact Us on +91 872 598 7940.
