Patient Information
Macular Degeneration
What is Macular Degeneration?
Macular Degeneration or Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) is an eye disease that is the leading cause of severe, permanent vision loss in people over age 60.
It happens when the small central portion of your retina, called the Macula, wears down. The retina is the light-sensing nerve tissue at the back of your eye.
Because the disease happens as you get older, it’s often called Age-related macular degeneration. It usually doesn’t cause blindness but might cause severe central vision loss.
Another form of macular degeneration, called Stargardt's disease or juvenile macular degeneration, affects children and young adults.
Wet vs. Dry Macular Degeneration
There are two main types of age-related macular degeneration:
- Dry form: People with this may have yellow deposits, called drusen, in their macula. A few small drusen may not cause changes in your vision. But as they get bigger and more numerous, they might dim or distort your vision, especially when you read. As the condition becomes worse, the light-sensitive cells in your macula (photoreceptors) get thinner and eventually die. In the atrophic form, you may have blind spots in your central vision. As that gets worse, you might lose central vision.
- Wet form: Abnormal blood vessels grow from underneath your macula. These blood vessels leak blood and fluid into your retina. Your vision is distorted so that straight lines look wavy. You may also have blind spots and loss of central vision. These blood vessels and their bleeding can eventually form a scar, leading to permanent loss of central vision.
Most people with macular degeneration have the dry form, but the dry form can lead to the wet form. Only about 10% of people with macular degeneration get the wet form.
If you have macular degeneration, you’ll need to monitor your eyesight carefully and have a full ocular examination regularly.
Symptoms of Macular Degeneration
Early on, you may not notice any symptoms of macular degeneration. It might not be diagnosed until it gets worse or affects both eyes.
Symptoms of macular degeneration may include:
- Worse or Blurry vision.
- Hard to read fine print or drive.
- Dark, blurry areas in the central vision
- Distortion in vision
At Hills Eye Surgery, your macular area will be assessed thoroughly for any signs of Macular Degeneration.
What causes of Macular Degeneration?
Age-related macular degeneration is more common in older people. It’s the leading cause of severe vision loss in adults over 60.
Macular degeneration may have something to do with your genes. If someone in your family has it, your risk might be higher.
Smoking, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, obesity, being female, being light-skinned and having light coloured eyes are also known risk factors.
How is Macular Degeneration Diagnosed?
A thorough eye examination can detect early signs of Age-related macular degeneration.
One of the most common early signs is drusen , which are tiny yellow spots or deposits in the macular area.
An Amsler grid may be given to you, which is a pattern of straight lines that resembles a checkerboard. If some of the straight lines appear wavy to you, or you notice some of the lines missing, these can be signs of macular degeneration.
An OCT scan of your macula using a scanning laser is able to detect fluid or blood underneath your retina, helping differentiate between the Dry and Wet type of ARMD and also to monitor for effectiveness of treatment.
Having regular eye examinations will help to find any signs of macular degeneration early.
Treatment can slow the progression of the condition or make the visual loss less severe.
How is Macular Degeneration treated?
There’s currently no cure for macular degeneration. Treatment may slow it down or keep you from losing too much of your vision. The treatment options include:
- Anti-angiogenesis drugs: called Vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors or Anti-VEGF drugs block the creation of abnormal blood vessels and leaking from these vessels in your eye that cause wet macular degeneration. Many people who’ve taken these drugs got back vision that was lost. You might need to have this treatment multiple times and they are given as Intravitreal injections.
- Laser therapy. High-energy laser light can destroy abnormal blood vessels growing in your eye.
- Photodynamic laser therapy. Your doctor injects a light-sensitive drug into your bloodstream, and it’s absorbed by the abnormal blood vessels. Your doctor then shines a low intensity laser into your eye to trigger the medication to damage those blood vessels.
- Low vision aids. These are devices that have special lenses or electronic systems to create larger images of nearby things. They can help people who have severe vision loss from macular degeneration make the most of their remaining vision.
Macular Degeneration Prevention
A large study found that certain people with dry ARMD could slow down the progression of Macular Degeneration by taking supplements of Vitamin C and E, Lutein, Zeaxanthin, Zinc, and Copper.
A healthy well balanced diet rich in anti-oxidants can play a role in prevention of ARMD.
What Is the Outlook for People With Macular Degeneration?
People rarely lose all of their vision from age-related macular degeneration. Their central vision might be bad, but they’re still able to do many normal daily activities using their peripheral vision.
The dry form of age-related macular degeneration tends to get worse slowly, so you can keep most of your vision till the late stages of the disease.
The wet form of macular degeneration is a leading cause of permanent vision loss. If it’s in both eyes it can affect your quality of life.
Wet macular degeneration can require repeated eye injections at 4-6 weekly intervals. We provide these injections onsite at Hills Eye Surgery.
Test your vision regularly and follow the advice you are given at Hills Eye Surgery.