Macular Degeneration
What is it?
The inside of your eye has a light-sensitive tissue called the retina. The most sensitive part of the retina is a small area in the center called the macula. This area is so sensitive that if blood vessels passed through it you would see Cheerios floating because your macula can resolve individual red blood cells. Our eyes are wonderfully created: the macula does not get its nourishment directly from blood vessels passing through it, but rather gets nourishment from a pigment carpet and dense network of fine blood vessels under the macula. Certain people get a break or flaw in their pigment carpet. This is the dry type of macular degeneration. About 20% of these people will grow new blood vessels under their macula to get more nourishment to the area. The new vessels are fragile and tend to hemorrhage and leak. This is the wet type of macular degeneration. Although legal blindness (vision 20/200 or worse) is possible, total blindness does not occur unless there is another unrelated condition present like retinal detachment or glaucoma.
Current Treatment:
Treatment for the dry type of macular degeneration:
- Multiple vitamins with zinc and lutein have been proven to slow the progression of the disease. Ocuvite Preservision by Baush and Lomb.
- Low Vision treatment can significantly improve your functional vision.
Treatment for the wet type of macular degeneration:
- Laser photocoagulation seals off leaky blood vessels.
- PDT (Photo Dynamic Therapy) is a new form of photocoagulation that uses a light-sensitive chemical injected through your blood vessels to concentrate the energy of a low-powered laser at the site of the leaky vessels. Low Vision treatment can significantly improve your functional vision.
Future Treatment:
- Retinal pigment epithelial transplantation for the dry type of macular degeneration.
- RhuFab, a drug that can prevent new blood vessels from growing. This drug or others that will follow it may prevent the wet form of macular degeneration.