THE ART IMAGE BELOW SHOWS WHAT A PERSON SUFFERING FROM ADVANCED ARMD WOULD SEE
Age Related Macular Degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in the UK and generally effects people from the age 55 and over. The Macular is the area of the retina which is responsible for our central vision and hence ARMD is characterised by a loss in central vision, which affects the ability to read, see faces and drive, but the peripheral vision is usually unaffected. Although increasing age is a significant risk factor for AMD the other risk factors include, family history, caucasion ethnicity, cardiovascular disease, smoking and the presence of AMD in the other eye.
There are two main types of ARMD, wet and dry. Wet ARMD is the more devastating and can cause a rapid and potentially irreversible damage to the central vision and represents 10-15 % of AMD. It can be characterised by abnormal vessel formation called choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) which may be accompanied by haemorrhage, exudation under and within the retina and scarring and fibrosis at the macula. Wet ARMD will affect the eyes in many ways in its early and later stages and below is another image of how this may affect a person’s vision.
In advanced wet ARMD a central blind spot or ‘’scotoma ‘’ is found due to haemorrhaging at the macula. Below is an image of the right of advanced wet ARMD showing this.
Dry AMD represents 80-90% of AMD cases and although less damaging and has fewer symptoms in its early stages, it can still develop and lead to a permanent reduction in the central vision thus affecting the ability to read. It is characterised by the accumulation of lipoprotein deposits (drusen) between the RPE and Buch’s membrane of the retina. The image below is the retinal image of the right eye with dry ARM.
Advanced ARMD can lead to troublesome symptoms of visual hallucinations known as Charles Bonnet Syndrome. Patients usually see faces or figures at windows or on plain backgrounds and can be very concerning for those who live alone. If this occurs then the patient needs to be reassured as there is nothing really that can be done but it’s important to realise this is nothing to do with a mental breakdown. Click the link below for more information on this and ARMD in general.
http://www.maculardisease.org/
http://www.armd.org.uk/
http://www.goodhope.org.uk/Departments/eyedept/armd%20pathol.htm
http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/amd.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/amd.shtml
