What you should know about Macular Degeneration

Macular Degeneration

It’s fair to say that unless you’re an optician or have personal experience of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) you may not even know what a Macula is, let alone why it would degenerate.

The Basics

Let’s start at the beginning. Most of us know that light enters through the pupil, travels through the lens and hits the retina at the back of the eye. This wonderful sensory membrane is packed with rod and cone cells.

Rods are great at detecting motion, work well in low light and provide black and white vision but they’re not what we’re concerned with in relation to AMD.

Our cone cells are concentrated nearer the centre of the retina including the Macula, where we have almost exclusively cones. These guys provide us with our high definition vision and work well in photopic (light) rather than scotopic (not so light) conditions.

The bad bit

As we age, parts of us stop working so well, and our eyes are no exception. A few people, usually in their 60s may notice their central vision deteriorating. Those cone cells we mentioned earlier can degenerate and cause the gradual or occasionally not so gradual loss of central vision. We don’t know an exact cause of this, however we can do some things to prevent or slow this.

Like everything else in life, a good diet doesn’t hurt. Vegetables, especially leafy green ones like Kale and Spinach contain lutein and zeaxantin and are great for your maculae. Smoking (shockingly) is known to bad for your eyes – and almost every other part of you.

The less bad bit

There are two types this condition can take. Dry and Wet. To put it simply, Dry AMD is untreatable but very slow in its progress. Wet AMD can be fast but is treatable. For more information check out the NHS website here

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/age-related-macular-degeneration-amd/

or consult your optometrist. Without sounding too preachy, this is why regular eye tests are a good idea. Even if you don’t notice a change in your vision, a proper eye test will comprise of many other ocular health checks and in rare cases, can save your vision!

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