What is Age Related Macular Degneration?
Macular degeneration is a medical condition that may result in blurred or no vision in the center of the visual field. It is also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD) because the disease happens as you get older. In the early stages, there are hardly any symptoms. When the condition starts getting worse some people to experience a gradual worsening of vision that may affect one or both eyes. It usually doesn’t cause blindness but might cause severe vision problems. Another form in which macular degeneration occurs is known as Stargardt disease or juvenile macular degeneration. It usually occurs in childhood or adolescence, though there is no upper age limit for presentation.
Causes:
It is caused when the small central portion of your retina, called the macula, gets damaged.
It is suggested in research there also is a genetic component to the disease.
High blood pressure, smoking, pressure or high cholesterol, eating lots of saturated fat, obesity are also risk factors.
Signs and Symptoms:
The loss of central vision profoundly affects visual functioning.
Difficulty in reading without central vision.
Formed visual hallucinations and flashing lights.
Trouble discerning colors, specifically dark ones from dark ones and light ones from light ones.
Slow recovery of visual function after exposure to bright light.
Diagnosis :
Diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration depends on signs in the macula, not necessarily vision.
An examination can be performed with an Amsler grid, a pattern of straight lines that resembles a checkerboard. A person with macular degeneration will see straight lines as wavy or may notice some lines missing.
Angiography or OCT is a procedure in which your doctor injects dye into a vein in your arm and takes photos to check If there are new vessels or vessels leaking fluid or blood in your macula.
Using an electroretinogram, points in the macula with a weak or absent response compared to a normal eye may be found.
Treatment :
Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy is used as the medications that block vascular endothelial growth factors.
Laser coagulation surgery is used to treat a number of eye diseases and has become widely used in recent decades. During the procedure, a laser is used to finely cauterize ocular blood vessels to attempt to bring about various therapeutic benefits.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT), is a form of phototherapy involving light and a photosensitizing chemical substance, used in conjunction with molecular oxygen to elicit cell death.
Prevention :