Article Medically Reviewed By:
William Tasman, MD
Professor and Chairman Emeritus of Ophthalmology Jefferson Medical College and Wills Eye Institute Philadelphia, PA
Overview
What Is It?
Macular degeneration is a group of eye diseases that affects central vision. It affects the macula, the central part of the retina of the eye that allows you to see fine, sharp details straight ahead.
Macular degeneration is a group of eye diseases that affects central vision. According to the National Eye Institute, it is the leading cause of severe vision loss among people age 60 and older, especially among Caucasians. The disease tends to occur more often in women than in men.
Macular degeneration often is called age-related macular degeneration (AMD) because the greatest risk factor for the disease is advancing age. Although AMD can occur in middle age, the National Eye Institute reports that people age 60 and older are at greatest risk for developing AMD. According to the American Macular Degeneration Foundation, macular degeneration affects more than 10 million Americans.
Some forms of macular degeneration can occur in children. One is juvenile macular degeneration, or Stargardt's disease, which affects one in 10,000 children, according to the American Macular Degeneration Foundation; it usually appears between the ages of six and 20 and is inherited. A gene that causes Stargardt's disease has been identified.
Genetic and other risk factors
A 1997 study conducted by teams of scientists with the National Cancer Institute's Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center in Maryland discovered a genetic component to this disease.
As the federal government's lead agency on vision research and sponsor of continuing studies on AMD, the National Eye Institute says its research so far indicates the following additional risks for macular degeneration:
- obesity (Research studies suggest a link between obesity and the progression of early- and intermediate-stage AMD to advanced AMD.)
- Caucasian ethnicity
- being female
- a family history of the condition
- smoking
- high blood cholesterol levels
- cardiovascular disease
- hypertension
Symptoms
Macular degeneration affects the macula, the central part of the retina of the eye that allows you to see fine, sharp details straight ahead. The retina is made of light-sensitive tissue that sends visual messages via nerve impulses to the brain through the optic nerve. The brain then processes the nerve signals into a "picture" that you see. The macula consists of millions of light-sensitive cells that help provide the central vision used in reading, driving, recognizing faces, and doing close work, such as sewing. As the macula deteriorates, central vision becomes blurred and distorted. Difficulty reading, distortion of letters, a greater need for more light to see, reduced color vision and the loss of ability to see fine detail are other symptoms of macular degeneration...
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