What is Macular Degeneration? Symptoms and Treatment

Macular Degeneration is a condition where people who have it experience trouble with central vision. It is a group of eye diseases that damage the macula, weakening the central vision. Macula is responsible for enabling sharp and detailed vision for activities like reading and driving. Your central vision is used for day to day activities like driving, reading, seeing faces and identifying objects. You can still see things at the edge of your vision with age related macular degeneration but the central part is affected most.

Many people experience the most common eye complications in their lifetime. Some of these are the result of aging, and there are many preventative actions you can take to slow down that process. The part of your retina linked to central vision takes care of things like recognizing faces and objects around you, as well as reading. Macular Degeneration is a common cause of severe vision loss. It involves the slow loss of central vision which leaves people with a blind spot in the middle of their field of vision.

1Symptoms Of Macular degeneration

Macular degeneration is one of the most widespread causes of vision loss and blindness in people over the age of 50. It is a progressive eye disease that causes damage to the macula (the eye’s light-sensitive tissue). This damage leads to blurred central vision. Annually, about 8 million Americans have some form of macular degeneration. Symptoms of macular degeneration include;

A reduction in central vision

Central vision loss is one of the most common and devastating symptoms of macular degeneration. These symptoms are known as central vision reduction as they refer to the central part of the macula that is further away from the edge and is responsible for fine visual acuity in both eyes (compared to fine vision that is located closer to the edge of the macula).

The central vision is that part of your field of view which you use for seeing details, reading and recognizing faces. When it gets affected, you may have problems recognizing faces, telling colors apart and sometimes even reading. A central vision reduction is a complication that can occur with advanced Macular Degeneration (MD). MD causes progressive loss of the macula, which is the center of the retina– the part that enables you to see fine details of an object.

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