Age-related macular degeneration is a common disorder of the eyes that occurs in people who are 50 years above. It reduces your central vision and causes blurriness. The reason for these issues is the thinning of the macula. It is a part of your eye’s retina.
The macula is responsible for providing you clear vision in a direct line of sight. The condition of age-related macular degeneration develops in one or both eyes. Your vision may get worse over time. It affects your ability to recognize faces.
You may be unable to drive or read books with age-related macular degeneration. It does not mean you are going to lose your whole sight. Vision loss is central typically and people retain peripheral vision.
Some people face mild loss of central vision. It can be more severe in others. Self-care measures and eye detection help you to delay the loss of your vision due to age-related macular degeneration.
Symptoms
The symptoms of age-related macular degeneration develop gradually without any pain. These symptoms are given below.
- Visual distortions like straight lines seem bent
- Reduction in central vision in one or both of your eyes
- Need to have a brighter light around when doing close-up work or reading
- Issues in working with low light levels
- Decrease in brightness or intensity of colors
- Increase in printed words blurriness
- A well defined blind or blurry spot in your vision area
Age-related macular degeneration impacts one or both eyes. You may not notice clear changes in your vision if your one eye is affected. The reason is that your good eye compensates for the affected eye. This condition does not affect your side or peripheral vision.
Types Of Macular Degeneration
Age-related macular degeneration has two main types. These types are given below.
Dry Form
People with this condition may have some yellow deposits in the area of their macula that are called drusen. If you have small drusen in less amount then it may not cause alterations in your vision. But as they grow in size and number, they can cause a dim or distorted vision.
You may feel that you have a distorted or blurred vision especially at the time of reading. The light-sensitive cells in the area of your macula get thinner and start dying as the condition gets worse.
In atrophic form, people may have blind spots in the center area of their vision. You may lose your central vision when the condition becomes severe.
Wet Form
Blood vessels grow from the area underneath your macula. These blood vessels leak the fluid and blood into the area of your retina. That is the reason the straight lines start looking wavy because your vision is distorted now.
You may also experience loss of central vision. Your doctor may tell you that you have some blind spots in your eye. Bleeding of blood vessels starts forming scars that cause permanent loss of central vision.
Causes
Age-related macular degeneration commonly occurs in people of older age. You can say that it is the leading cause of eye problems that leads to a severe loss of vision in adults who are 60 years above. Macular degeneration may relate to your genes.
If anyone in your family has this condition then you are at the risk of developing this eye issue. Other risk factors include high cholesterol, being light-skinned, high blood pressure, being female, eating excessive saturated fat, and having the light color of your eyes.
Risk Factors
Following are the risk factors that may enhance the chances of developing age-related macular degeneration.
Age
The disease is common in people who are 60 years above.
Genetics And Family History
The disease has a component of heredity. Researchers have revealed that different genes are associated with the development of this condition.
Race
Caucasians suffer more from the condition of macular degeneration as compared to others.
Smoking
If you are exposed to smoke on a regular basis then it puts you at risk to develop macular degeneration.
Obesity
Being obese enhances the chances that you may have early or intermediate macular degeneration. It will progress to a more severe form in case of obesity.
Cardiovascular Disease
If you have a disease related to your blood vessels and heart then you are at higher risk of developing macular degeneration.
