What is Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)
Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is a painless eye condition that causes the progressive irreversible loss of central vision.
In the UK, AMD is the leading cause of visual loss in those aged 50 years and older.
AMD does not cause total blindness but can cause difficulties in everyday activities such as reading, watching TV, facial recognition and driving.
Treatment temporises the disease and needs repeating every few months at an interval dictated by the disease activity over several years.
Commencing treatment is a race against time and to keep the disease in remission so the treatment must be very time sensitive. Equally the treatment is 1 stop so there are no inconvenient or sight threatening delays.
Without treatment your vision may get worse. This can happen gradually over several years (dry AMD), or quickly over a few weeks or months (wet AMD).
However with treatment , 90% of our patients achieve the same visual acuity or better after 2 years of treatment.
The exact cause is unknown, but is linked to impaired dietary uptake, smoking, cardiovascular risks and family history. The first symptom is often a blurred or distorted area of central vision.
Other symptoms include:
- seeing straight lines as wavy or crooked
- objects looking smaller than normal
- colours seeming less bright than they used to
- seeing things that are not there (hallucinations)
AMD is not painful and does not affect the appearance of your eyes.
