10 Things You Should Know About Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)

Unfortunately, age related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of severe, permanent vision loss over the age of 60. It is very important to educate yourself about this disease because it affects so many of us.

Here are 10 things you should know about AMD:

1. What is it?

AMD is a disease of the central retina. It is where deposits form in the bottom most layer of the retina and disrupt vision. This can happen by scarring or new blood vessel growth within the retina that can leak.

2. What are the risk factors?

Smoking or even smoking in your past increases your risk of getting AMD. Your optometrist will also ask you about your medical history such as if you are diabetic, have high cholesterol, or high blood pressure, all of which can increase your risk. It is also possible that AMD can run in families so it’s important to know if you have any blood relatives with AMD.

3. What are the symptoms?

The first signs of AMD are usually blurred vision or distortion in vision. It is important to note that an individual with AMD will never have total blindness from the disease even in the worst cases, peripheral vision stays intact.

4. How is it diagnosed?

The best way to diagnose AMD is by using an ocular coherence tomographer (OCT). This instrument scans the retina and show our optometrist a cross section image of the retina, similar to an ultrasound.

5. How can you monitor your vision?

It is best to use an Amsler grid for monitoring at home. When looking at the grid you will be able to tell if there are changes to your vision. Remember: you must do this test one eye at a time and while wearing your reading glasses.

6. What are treatment a doctor can do?

Unfortunately there are no treatments a doctor can do for dry AMD, however, wet AMD can be treated with an injection into the eye by an ophthalmologist.

7. What can you do as a treatment?

The best method to prevent dry AMD from progressing is a healthy balanced diet full of anti-oxidants. There is also a special multivitamin formulation for AMD called AREDS2. The two most important ingredients in this formulation are lutein and zeaxanthin.

8. What are some other things you can do?

Wear sunglasses! UV protection goes a long way to have a healthy retina. Exercise is a great was to de-stress as well as lowering your chances of getting high blood pressure or diabetes.

9. How does it progress?

Generally speaking AMD progresses slowly with time. Most people never progress to the point of losing vision but unfortunately for those who do, the vision loss is irreversible once there is scarring.

10. What kinds of new research are happening?

The most promising research is coming from stem cell and gene therapy treatments. There is still a long way to go until these are available as main stream treatments, but we are looking forward to that day. Another interesting area of research comes from some fish and amphibians that can regrow their retina so researchers are trying to figure out how this is possible and recreate it.

Routine eye exams are a huge part in early detection of macular degeneration. Everyone over the age of 65 should be seen yearly for a routine eye exam. We would love to see you! Book your exam today.