As you get older, your vision can be affected by many medical conditions, but macular degeneration is one of the most serious of these vision disorders. 10 million people in the United States alone are afflicted with this sight-stealing disorder, and it leads the way among vision loss culprits for those over the age of 55. To learn more about this disease, read on.
1. The name of this illness comes from a part of the eye at the center of your retina, the macula. This part of the eye is responsible for clear, head-on vision that allows you to perform tasks like reading.
2. You might miss the very earliest signs of this disease, such as a slight distortion in lines. Sometimes, even before you notice any signs, a vision exam can catch macular degeneration early on. Your eye doctor may notice something called "drusen" in your eye, which is a red flag for this disorder.
3. Most people notice a disturbance in the center part of their vision, such as a white, blank or blurry area as the first symtom. In time, this will progress to blurriness in your entire vision field and the distortion of colors.
4. The risk factors for having this eye disorder are family history and smoking. Additionally, those who have spent a lot time in the sun, those with lighter eye colors and those with high blood pressure are predisposed.
5. Some people are afflicted with macular degeneration in both eyes, or in only one. One eye may become affected before the other, so that both eyes will be in different stages of the disease. You should know, however, that having it in one eye means you will likely have it in both eyes, eventually.
6. While there is no cure for macular degeneration at this time, the progression of the disease can be slowed using injections, photo-dynamic therapy and laser surgery. Since the final stage of this disorder is blindness, any vision that can be preserved is valuable. The future may hold some hope, however, with experimentation being conducted using micro telescopes that are surgically inserted in the eye.
7. Taking into consideration how this disease progresses and the lack of a cure, coping strategies for this disease take on a large importance. This is accomplished using several methods to assist those with low vision, such as extra-magnified reading glasses, large print materials, talking clocks, watches and calculators, magnified computer and television screens and LED lights paired with a magnifier.
8. You may be able to slow the progression of macular degeneration with the use of supplements, such as lutein, beta carotene, copper, zinc, and vitamins E and C.
Get regular eye exams, such as at Wheatlyn Eyecare, since you can do a lot to preserve your vision if you act quickly.
Share31 December 2016
After I started paying more attention to what people were wearing to work, I realized that a lot of the folks who were taken seriously were wearing glasses. I decided that it might be time to improve my look with a great pair of frames, so I set out to find a nice pair of glasses. I talked with my eye doctor about my vision, and it turned out that I needed to invest in a new pair of glasses anyway. This blog is all about improving your look with glasses and knowing how to tell the difference between frames that would improve your appearance and glasses that might make you look strange.
