Macular Degeneration and Treatment

Macular Degeneration Treatment

What is age-related macular degeneration?
Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is a common eye disease which may get worse over time. ARMD occurs when a small central portion of the retina called the macula degenerates with loss of central vision. Macular degeneration is common in people who are over the age of 60. It is a leading cause of severe vision loss for older adults.

The retina is situated at the back of the eye and transmits the images that we see to the brain. The retina has two main parts – the macula and the peripheral retina. The macula is the part of the retina that is responsible for seeing fine detail, such as reading, seeing facial features and interpreting different colours. It is this part of the retina that is affected by age-related macular degeneration.

Macular degeneration may be inherited, and risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or obesity may play a role in the developmental of the disorder.

There are two major types of ARMD. These are described as dry or wet.

• Dry age-related macular degeneration
  This is the more common form of ARMD and affects almost 80% of those with the condition. The onset of this tends to be slow. Both eyes are usually affected but usually asymmetrically
• Wet age-related macular degeneration
  Wet macular degeneration is less common but has a more severe and rapid effect on the central area of vision. In this condition, blood vessels at the back of the eye grow abnormally into the macular area. These blood vessels may leak or bleed, causing a rapid and significant reduction in central vision. This tends to affect one eye at a time, but there is a risk of the same thing occurring in the other eye over the following months.

What are the symptoms of age-related macular degeneration?
Macular degeneration is a progressive disease, and often the symptoms are not noticed, especially when both eyes are affected at the very same time. The symptoms include:

• Distortion of straight lines in your vision
• A need for a brighter lighting
• When your central vision is reduced
• Difficulty in adapting to low lights
• Blurred vision
• Difficulty in face recognition
• A blurred patch or spot in your vision
• Rapidly worsening symptoms

How is macular degeneration treated?
Treatment for macular degeneration is aimed at slowing down or preventing you from losing more vision. Dr Beatty will discuss options for degenerative macular treatment with you, which may include multivitamins, vaso-endothelial growth factor inhibitors (these are usually injected into the eye), laser treatment and low vision aids to assist in creating larger images of things that are nearby.

• Dry ARMD
  The vision tends to deteriorate gradually, and the loss of vision is not always severe. Macular degeneration treatment involves wearing the best spectacle prescription and using bright lights. The use of large print books and magnifying glasses or low visual aids is often necessary.
• Wet ARMD
  In order to determine whether a patient would be suitable for macular degeneration treatment, further evaluation and imaging of the retina need to be carried out. Imaging of the retina involves a fluorescein angiogram and a scan of the back of the eye (retina) with an OCT (optical coherence tomography) machine. The fluorescein angiogram procedure involves a dye being injected into a vein of the arm and then a series of photographs are taken of the back of the eye. An OCT scan is used to look for macular degeneration under the retina, and this scan usually takes only a few minutes to perform. If wet ARMD is confirmed, treatment is implemented urgently.