What Is Age Related Macular Degeneration or AMD?
The macula is the small part of the retina that is responsible for your central and detail vision. It is also partially responsible for your color vision. When functioning properly, it collects extremely detailed images at the center of our vision, sending visual information to the brain via the optic nerve.
As its name implies, macular degeneration is the deterioration of the macula, which causes visual information that's sent to the brain to become distorted and blurry. This can make every-day tasks such as driving, recognizing faces, reading, and watching TV much harder or even impossible. This can seriously impact your quality of life.
Types of AMD
There are two main types of macular degeneration: “wet” macular degeneration and “dry” macular degeneration. The majority of people with AMD (between 85% to 90%) have the dry form of the condition. Without proper treatment, this can eventually lead to the wet form, which is much more dangerous for your vision.
Stargardt disease is another form of macular degeneration, which occurs in young people. Caused by a defective gene, it affects 1 in 10,000 people.
Crest Eyecare in Winnipeg can help you manage the condition and occasionally even restore some lost vision.
Symptoms of Macular Degeneration
Macular degeneration often has no significant symptoms when it first develops, causing it to go unnoticed until it's already caused Irreversible damage to your eyes and vision. This is why it's so important to have regular eye exams, which allow your eye doctor to detect signs of macular degeneration before vision loss sets in.
The first symptoms that you may experience include:
- Blind spots or dark areas in the center of your vision
- Decreased or blurry vision
- Colors seeming more dull than they used to
- Straight lines appearing to be crooked or wavy
If you have advanced dry macular degeneration in both eyes, we may be able to improve your vision by implanting a telescopic lens in one eye. This looks like a tiny plastic tube with lenses that magnify your field of vision.
Contact Crest Eyecare in Winnipeg to discuss ways to manage your AMD and find the best treatment plan.
