What is macular degeneration in simple terms?

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an eye disease that can blur your central vision. It happens when aging causes damage to the macula — the part of the eye that controls sharp, straight-ahead vision. The macula is part of the retina (the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye).

What is macular degeneration in English?

Macular degeneration, or age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is a leading cause of vision loss in Americans 60 and older. It is a disease that destroys your sharp, central vision. You need central vision to see objects clearly and to do tasks such as reading and driving.

What is another name for macular degeneration?

Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD), is a medical condition which may result in blurred or no vision in the center of the visual field. Early on there are often no symptoms.

What is the meaning of the macular?

a spot or blotch, especially on one’s skin; macule. Ophthalmology. an opaque spot on the cornea. Also called macula lutea, yellow spot. an irregularly oval, yellow-pigmented area on the central retina, containing color-sensitive rods and the central point of sharpest vision.

What causes macular degeneration?

Macular degeneration may have something to do with your genes. If someone in your family has it, your risk might be higher. Smoking, having high blood pressure or high cholesterol, obesity, eating lots of saturated fat, being light-skinned, being female, and having a light eye color are also risk factors.

What helps macular degeneration?

Kale, spinach, broccoli, squash and other vegetables have high levels of antioxidants, including lutein and zeaxanthin, which may benefit people with macular degeneration. Foods containing high levels of zinc also may be of particular value in patients with macular degeneration.

What is the function of the macula in the human eye?

The macula is part of the retina at the back of the eye. It is only about 5mm across, but is responsible for our central vision, most of our colour vision and the fine detail of what we see. The macula has a very high concentration of photoreceptor cells – the cells that detect light.

Who is at risk of macular degeneration?

This disease is most common in people over 60. Family history and genetics. This disease has a hereditary component. Researchers have identified several genes that are related to developing the condition.

Is macular degeneration preventable?

Macular degeneration cannot be prevented, but smoking is the number one risk factor in developing the disorder, so quit smoking to stem further deterioration. See your eye doctor if you have any symptoms, and make sure you keep regularly scheduled eye exams.

What happens if macula is damaged?

If the damage is near the macula, one could notice various visual effects such as general poor vision, distortion of images such as straight lines appearing wavy, blurry spots in one’s central vision, and/or vision with images appearing and disappearing.

How do u get macular degeneration?

What is macular degeneration?

: progressive deterioration of the macula of the eye resulting in a gradual loss of the central part of the visual field especially : age-related macular degeneration.

What are the early signs of macular degeneration?

In its early stages, the following signs of macular degeneration can go unnoticed. The gradual loss of ability to see objects clearly. The shape of objects appears distorted. Straight lines look wavy or crooked. Loss of clear color vision. A dark or empty area in the center of vision.

How is macular degeneration diagnosed?

To make the diagnosis of macular degeneration, the doctor dilates the pupil with eye drops and examines the interior of the eye, looking at the retina for the presence of yellow bumps called drusen and for gross changes in the macula such as thinning. The doctor also administers a visual field test, looking for blank spots in the central vision.

What is geographic atrophy of age-related macular degeneration?

An advanced form of age-related dry macular degeneration (AMD) is geographic atrophy, which leads to progressive and irreversible loss of visual function. Geographic atrophy causes sharply demarcated atrophic lesions of the outer retina, resulting from loss of retinal pigment epithelium, photoreceptors, and choriocapillaris.