What Is Dry Macular Degeneration?

(AMD) macular degeneration is a growing problem that affects more than 1.75 million Americans and is the main cause of loss of severe vision for persons over 60 years. Macular degeneration is deterioration of the central part of the retina, known as the macula. The macula is responsible for the vision sharp, detailed that a person uses for reading, driving and any task that requires the acute accent.AMD rarely causes complete blindness because it does not affect the peripheral vision of the person, but it creates significant visual impairment. The extent of the impairment vary greatly in patients. A person can have a total loss of central vision, even if another person has only a slight distortion of their central vision. It is commonly known as related to age, or AMD, macular degeneration since it is often occurs in the elderly population.The two main forms of age-related macular degeneration are the dry form and the wet form, with the dry form is more common. Dry AMD symptoms appear progressively and eventual vision loss is generally less serious. It can occur in one or more eyes. If it appears in one eye, may take more time to diagnose because the good eye will tend to offset the weak eye. Dry macular degeneration occurs when small yellowish spots called drusen begins to form in and around the macula and the layers of the retina.The existence of these spots does not necessarily entail changes in vision, but as the spots multiply and increase the size they can cause distortion of the vision or gradation, most visible in the reading. Advance of dry macular degeneration can advance and develop in geographic atrophy. This atrophy is the prolonged failure of the photoreceptors of the retina and the leading cause of severe central vision loss. Most people who suffer from the disease are diagnosed at the start of the dry form and he can develop in the wet form, but only about 10% of cases.At this time, there is no cure for macular degeneration, but there are many treatment options that can slow down the progress of the disease and perhaps stop visual impairment severe. Some of these options include vitamin supplements, laser treatment, AIDS, low vision and new drugs that are the subject of research. Researchers are investigating the surgical options but it is still in the early stages of development, are regarded as experimental. If diagnosed with macular degeneration, it is important that individuals test and verify their own vision and see their ophthalmologist regularly.