Macular Degeneration 

What is the Age - Related Macular Degeneration?

The age - related macular degeneration is the one of the most significant reasons that cause the visual loss in people older than 60 years. This is a disease which develops in the VISUAL CORTEX of nervous layer located at behind of the eye. The damage occured in this area which includes the visual cortex, negatively affects the daily life. Retina is the name of the nervous layer that covers the back side of the eye ball. This nervous layer is very thin and its function is to enable the vision to be perceived in a healthy way. In the retinal diseases, the rate of visual affection depends on the location of the damage, that is, the disease. For example,  a large damage to the edges of the retina (far from the visual cortex) may not effect the sight at all while a minimal disease at the visual cortex may result in a significant visual loss. 

This disease is most frequantly observed in:

• Whites

• Advanced age group

• Smokers

• Hypertension patients

• Overweights

• Those with high blood fats

• And those exposed to the sun light more. 

What are the Manifestations of Age - Related Macular Degeneration? 

The macula is the area of retina located at the center which enables us to see the objects in detail and net. If the macula looses its function and since the central vision will then be affected, the object in distant and near will be seen distorted, a black focus will occur at the center of visual field and sight at dark environments will be disrupted. For this reason, in cases where the macula is damaged, the daily life of the individual is largely affected. He / she cannot do activities like driving and reading.

Even if the macular degeneration reduces the vision by affecting the central area of the nervous layer, called retina, it does not affect the peripheral vision. For instance: while you still can see the outward sides of a watch when you look at the watch, you cannot see the watch it self and thus cannot tell what is the time. Hence the central vision is distorted. But the periphery area  can still be seen because the peripheral areas of the vision are not affected. The macular degeneration itself does not cause a complete visual loss. But it can cause an appearant level of visual reduction.

The risk groups of macular degeneration are: 

• Those who have a family member that suffers from this disease

• Men, when compared to women

• Those whose eyes are blue

• Smokers

• Hypertension patients 

• Those who are over - exposed to the sun light

It is generally suggested to wear sun glasses (to be protected from the harmful rays of the sun) not to smoke tabacco, to observe a healthy diet (to eat plenty of vegetable, fruit and fish) to provide vitamin support (especially vitamin B, zinc, A and E) to be protected from the macular degeneration disease. However, these protective measures are not effective.