What is AMD?
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the deterioration of the eye’s macula. The macula is a small area in the retina, which is the delicate light-sensitive part at the back of the eye. This picks up the images similar to the film in a camera. The macula is the part of the retina that is responsible for your central vision, allowing you to see fine details clearly. The macula is the part of the eye that allows you to thread a needle, read small print and read street signs. The peripheral retina gives one peripheral vision, many elderly individuals develop macular degeneration as part of the body’s natural aging process. With macular degeneration, you may have symptoms such as blurriness, dark areas or distortion in your central vision and perhaps permanent loss of your central vision. It usually does not affect your side vision or peripheral vision. There are two types of macular degeneration, “dry” macular degeneration with drusen only and “wet” or exudative macular degeneration.
Treatment
There is no cure, but age-related macular degeneration treatments such as vitamin supplementation and laser therapy may prevent severe vision loss or slow the progression of the disease considerably. Avastin is the brand name for bevacizumab, a drug injected into the eye to slow vision loss in people who have “wet” age-related macular degeneration. Others solutions exist to help the everyday patient such as magnifiers, lamps, specials glasses to improve day to day activities. A complete assessment can be done to assess the needs of individuals.