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Macular Degeneration |
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What is macular degeneration?
Your retina contains an extraordinary photo-sensitive array of cells that line the back of your eye. The light falling onto these cells in the retina is transformed into electrical signals which are transmitted to those brain centers that create the complex and wonderful experience of vision.
The most concentrated collection of photo-sensitive cells in your retina, including those that enable critical color and fine detail vision, are found in the "Bulls-Eye" center zone in an area called the macula.
Macular degeneration is the imprecise historical name given to a very poorly understood group of diseases that cause sight-sensing cells in the macular zone of the retina to malfunction or lose function. The result is debilitating loss of vital central or detail vision.
The brain cleverly learns to compensate and fill in the missing part of the picture in early cases with spotty macular cell damage or dysfunction so that most people only present to their ophthalmologist when disease is fairly advanced.
The best way to find out if you have macular degeneration is to get regular and complete eye exams. |
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