How Regular Eye Check Ups Helpful In Macular Degeneration?

Windy City Retina
2 min readDec 31, 2020

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Taking care of eyes is very essential as we can have a number of eye problems with aging and due to lack of proper care and regular eye checkups, these conditions can worsen. There are the majority of people who lose their vision due to the ignorance of small problems in the eyes. Age-related macular degeneration is one of the leading causes of blindness in people above the age of 60 years and it is recommended to go for a regular eye checkup. While there is no cure for macular degeneration, there are many ways to treat and control it.

Forms Of Age Related Macular Degeneration

Dry Form: This form of macular degeneration is primarily characterized by yellow deposit formation in the macula that is called the drusen. While a few drusen will not affect the vision a lot, as they grow in number and size it may lead to worsening of the vision especially when reading. At the advanced stage of dry macular degeneration, the layers of lightweight macula cells begin to clear. This leads to tissue death or atrophy. The atrophic form provokes the formation of blind spots in the eyes of the patient.

Wet Form: The moist form of macular degeneration is mainly characterized by abnormal blood vessels developing below the choroid macula. This condition is called the choroid neovascularization. The blood vessels that develop begin to enter the retina. This leads to distortion in the vision. The straight lines start to look wavy and many blind spots start to happen. This bleeding in the blood vessels begins to form a scar that can cause permanent vision loss.

People above the age of 60 years can suffer from macular degeneration and is often referred to as age-related macular degeneration. While the condition is regarded as hereditary, individuals without any history of macular degeneration may also get the condition. However, individuals with a family history of the disease are at a higher risk of getting it, which is why they need to be more cautious. It is typically transmitted from parents to their children.
Some of the other reasons why this condition occurs are smoking, high blood pressure, and obesity. People with brighter eyes also have a higher risk of developing macular degeneration.

Symptoms

Macular degeneration does not have a lot of symptoms and since the macular degeneration cure does not exist, it is essential to visit your retina specialist for the regular eye. Blurry vision and changed color perception are some of the main symptoms of this condition.

There are various treatment methods performed by a retina specialist to treat the condition and it is essential to consult the right eye doctor for effective treatment solutions.

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Windy City Retina
Windy City Retina

Written by Windy City Retina

Windy City Retina: Trusted retina care in Plainfield, IL by Dr. Ankit Desai, board certified ophthalmologist and retina subspecialist. www.windycityretina.com

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