At Eye Clinic of Austin, our eye doctors can help select optical and non-optical devices to aid in daily activities. When vision is significantly decreased, special visual aids and magnifiers may be helpful.ĭespite medical treatment, people with macular degeneration still experience vision loss.
Nutritional supplements such as specific vitamin, mineral, carotenoid and essential fatty acid supplementation has been shown to reduce progression by 30%.įor wet macular degeneration, injection of advanced medication may prevent major vision loss or improve or stabilize vision in many cases. An ophthalmologist diagnoses the disease with a complete eye exam including simple, in-office tests while the pupils are dilated.ĭespite ongoing medical research, there is no cure for dry macular degeneration. Once discovered, both dry and wet macular degeneration should be treated right away to prevent further vision loss. Typically, patients develop a central vision blind spot, and many patients see straight lines as appearing to be wavy. Wet type macular degeneration symptoms have a quicker onset than the dry type. Many people have issues recognizing faces or need more light to read. As the disease progresses, the most common symptoms are blurred vision and objects appearing duller or less bright than usual. Symptomsĭry macular degeneration is hardly noticed by most patients in the early stages of development and that is why it is so very important to schedule regular comprehensive eye exams. Caucasians are more likely to get macular degeneration, and people with a family history of the disease are also at a higher risk. Research has shown that a history of smoking increases the risk for macular degeneration two-fold. Other risk factors include smoking, race, and family history.
Macular degeneration typically occurs in individuals who are over the age of 50. Affecting only about 15% of people who have macular degeneration, if the wet form is caught early enough, various forms of treatment by a retinal specialist can improve and stabilize vision.
Vision loss caused by wet macular degeneration typically occurs fairly rapidly. Vision destruction and distortion begin when these blood vessels leak, bleed, and scar the retina. The less common, wet or exudative macular degeneration occurs when abnormal blood vessels form under the central retina. Thus, it is imperative to schedule regular eye exams as you age, especially if you have a family history of eye disease. Eye doctors recognize the dry type by multiple small yellow-white spots called drusen, which appear in the back of the eye at the outer retina.ĭry macular degeneration develops slowly, and there is no treatment to reverse damage done by the disease, only to slow the progression. Earlier detection allows earlier intervention to slow or possibly halt the progression of the disease.ĭry macular degeneration is the most common of the two types and consists of a gradual breakdown of macula cells. This stage can be detected 3 to 5 years before the first drusen are detected in dry macular degeneration. It is found by detecting longer than normal time to adjust from bright light to darkness or prolonged Rod Intercept (RI) using the Adapt DX. Subclinical macular degeneration is the earliest detectable stage of macular degeneration. All typically develop in patients over the age of 50. The three stages of macular degeneration are subclinical macular degeneration, dry macular degeneration and wet macular degeneration. For example, a person with advanced macular degeneration can see the outline of a clock but cannot tell what time it is. As the macula deteriorates, central vision is affected however, peripheral vision remains clear.
The macula is responsible for detailed vision and is the central part of the retina. Macular degeneration is a genetic disease occurring more frequently with aging in which the macula deteriorates. To order supplements, please visit our Macuhealth online store.
AUSTIN RETINA DOCTORS HOW TO
At Eye Clinic of Austin, we are highly trained in how to diagnose and slow the disease with treatment. According to the Macular Degeneration Association, macular degeneration is the leading cause of legal blindness in Americans age 65 and older and approximately 11 million people in the US suffer from the disease. Macular degeneration is the most common eye condition among adults over the age of 50.
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