Age-related macular degeneration is a complex eye disease that causes gradual loss of vision. It’s the most common cause of blindness in people over 60 years old, but it’s not just restricted to this age group. It can affect anyone, including children and young adults. Although there are no known ways to prevent AMD, treatments available can slow down its progression and improve your quality of life. If you’re living in senior assisted living apartments in Arlington, TX, or memory care apartments in our community, we’ll help you manage your condition with one-on-one assistance from our team members who specialize in helping older adults with their vision problems.
Causes And Risk Factors Of AMD
The most common form of AMD is dry macular degeneration. The macula is a small area in the center of your retina that allows you to see fine detail and color. Dry AMD occurs when the macula thins and drifts away from its normal position due to aging or other causes, such as smoking and elevated cholesterol levels.
The other major type of age-related macular degeneration is wet AMD, which affects about 10% of people with AMD. In wet AMD, abnormal blood vessels grow beneath the retina and leak fluid into it. This can cause scarring over time if left untreated; however, several treatment options are available for both forms of this condition, depending on its severity.
Symptoms
The most common symptoms of age-related macular degeneration include the following:
- A blurriness or distortion of vision in the center of your field of vision. This can happen in both eyes and may be permanent or temporary. It may also come and go over time, depending on how much you use your eyes each day (for example, when you wake up in the morning versus later).
- Difficulty seeing straight lines at a distance (your ability to see what’s called “far point”). You might notice this by noticing that it’s hard to read signs while driving or walking down sidewalks, even though they’re not blurry or out-of-focus.
- You may see dark spots or shadows in the center of your vision.
Diagnosis Of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
The first step in the management of AMD is to make a diagnosis. Several tests can be used to help determine if you have the condition. These include:
- Visual acuity test-This test measures how well you see at various distances and light levels. It also checks for distortion of images and color perception problems caused by macular degeneration.
- Color vision test-This measures how well you can distinguish between different shades of red, green, blue, or yellow objects presented against different backgrounds (e.g., white). The ability to differentiate between colors may be affected by early stages of macular degeneration but not always by late stages when central vision has been entirely lost due to retinal damage caused by AMD or other causes such as diabetes mellitus (diabetes).
While it’s not yet possible to determine your risk for developing AMD, you can prevent the disease by avoiding known risk factors.
- Smoking: Smoking has been shown to increase the risk of developing AMD by up to 60%. Those who smoke should quit as soon as possible because even after quitting, their risk remains higher than those who don’t smoke or used to smoke.
- Obesity: Obesity has been linked with an increased prevalence of neovascular AMD. This form of disease causes vision loss through bleeding under the retina. If you’re overweight or obese, losing weight may help reduce your chances of developing this type of AMD later in life.
