What is Age Related Macular Degeneration for Eyes?

Age Related Macular degeneration (ARMD) is a disease that causes progressive damage to the macula.

There are two forms of Age Related macular degeneration
鈼?Dry (atrophic) macular degeneration
鈼?Wet (neovascular / exudative) macular degeneration

Risk Factors for Macular Degeneration

Strong Risk Factors
鈼?Aging
鈼?Smoking
鈼?Positive Family History

Possible Risk Factors
鈼?Exposure to sunlight especially Blue Light
鈼?Hypertension, High Cholesterol, Obesity

Treatment
鈼?STOP SMOKING
鈼?Hight dose vitamins + antioxidants
鈼?Drugs - Macugen or Lucentis
鈼?Low vision aids

Bottom Line: Age related is a very complicated and rapidly evolving field. Talk to a Retina specialist and follow the recommendations. Do not despair. There is hope.

Sorry to copy and paste this whole chunk, but it says it better than I ever could. My friend has AMD, the dry kind, and has checkups and laser treatment in Harley Street whenever she needs it. It's not pleasant, but at least it doesn't hurt. She is now looking into stem cell treatments.

"The eye is shaped like a ball. The pupil, close to the front, is the opening, which allows light to enter the eye. Just behind the pupil is the lens, which focuses the light on the retina at the back of the eye. The retina is a delicate tissue, which converts the light into images, and sends them to the brain. The macula is a small area at the very centre of the retina.

The macula is very important and is responsible for what we see straight in front of us, allowing us to see fine detail for activities such as reading and writing, as well as our ability to see colour.

What is macular degeneration?
Sometimes the delicate cells of the macula become damaged and stop working, and there are many different conditions which can cause this. If it occurs later in life, it is called 鈥渁ge-related macular degeneration鈥? also often known as AMD.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of macular degeneration or AMD, usually referred to as 鈥渨et鈥?and 鈥渄ry鈥? This is not a description of what the eye feels like but what the ophthalmologist (eye specialist) can see when looking at the macula.

鈥淒ry鈥?AMD is the most common form of the condition. It develops very slowly causing gradual loss of central vision. Many people find that the vision cells simply stop working like the colours fading in an old photograph. There is no medical treatment for this type. However, aids such as magnifiers can be helpful with reading and other small detailed tasks.

鈥淲et鈥?AMD results in new blood vessels growing behind the retina, this causes bleeding and scarring, which can lead to sight loss. 鈥淲et鈥?AMD can develop quickly and sometimes responds to treatment in the early stages. It accounts for about 10 per cent of all people with AMD.

AMD usually involves both eyes, although one may be affected long before the other. This sometimes makes the condition difficult to notice at first because the sight in the 鈥済ood鈥?eye is compensating for the loss of sight in the affected eye.

You cannot wear out your sight, so do not be afraid to continue to use the 鈥済ood鈥?eye as normal.

The good news is that AMD is not painful, and almost never leads to total blindness. It is the most common cause of poor sight in people over 60 but very rarely leads to complete sight loss because only the central vision is affected. This means that almost everyone with AMD will have enough side (or peripheral) vision to get around and keep his or her independence."
http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/pub...

There are a lot of sites available to look at for information.

The macula is the part of the eye we use to look directly at things. Macular degeneration causes problems in this area, leading to losing central vision.
It is recommended that you take vitamins with certain ingredients that have been proven to slow down and potentially slightly reverse the damage. MaxiVision is the brand that is recommended the most and contains the right amount of each of the necessary vitamins.

Here's a site with a little more background info

http://www.eyesight.org/Adult/adult.html