Macular degeneration

Macular degeneration also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD) is the most common cause of legal blindness in people over 50 in the United States. There is no medical treatment for dry AMD and no cure.

Macular degeneration is caused by cumulative damage to the macula, the center of the retina, where both ganglion cells and cones are present at very high densities. It starts as a blurred spot in the center of what you see. As the degeneration spreads, vision shrinks.

Free radicals generated by sunlight, cigarette smoke, air pollution, infection, and metabolism cause much of this damage.

In the past several years, researchers have found genes associated with Stargardt disease both wet and dry AMD and retinitis pigmentosa. May eye diseases, including retinitis pigmentosa, familial exultative maculopathy, Sticker’s syndrome, and stationery night blindness, have a genetic component.
Macular degeneration