Happy National Eye Health Week! This week is about educating or refreshing our understanding of eye conditions and remembering to book an eye test. Tell your friends, tell your families – our eyes matter, so look after them!

1. What is AMD?

AMD, or Age-Related Macular Degeneration is a common disease, which warps the centre of your vision, due to damage to the macula. This is a region located in the centre of the retina, and it is very important to be able to see clearly.

While younger people can occasionally contract the disease, the vast majority of sufferers are between the ages of 50 to 90. Subsequently, it is one of the largest causes of blindness in patients over 60 years old.

There are multiple forms of this disease, but the main two are dry AMD and wet AMD. We will talk about the ways the diseases differ later, but a quick thing to remember is that dry AMD happens slowly, whereas wet AMD happens very quickly.

2. What causes AMD?

The internal causes of both wet and dry AMD are still unclear, and there is no cure for the condition either.

The internal causes of vision loss are different between wet AMD and dry AMD.

In dry AMD, small yellow deposits called drusen form on the macula over time, which won’t cause much vision loss at first, but slowly obscure and warp your vision if they are left untreated. Eventually the cells in the macula will die, and you can lose all of your central vision.

In wet AMD, blood vessels grow underneath the retina, and leak blood onto the macula. This causes immediate vision distortion, such as straight lines appearing wavy, or blind spots in your central vision. The bleeding will then cause a scar on the macula, which will permanently obscure your central vision. This is more dangerous because it happens much more quickly.

The main risk factors of the disease are age, genetics, smoking, obesity, and heart disease.

If you notice sudden changes to your ability to see, you should see an optometrist as quickly as possible, or go to A&E.

3. How long does it take AMD to develop?

Dry AMD develops very slowly due to the time it takes small deposits of drusen to establish.

Wet AMD happens very quickly, so it is important to understand the symptoms and seek help quickly!

4. How does AMD affect our vision?

AMD causes central vision loss, which means that task-specific activities in the focal point of your vision become far more difficult, once your eyes are into the latter stages of the condition. It also causes loss of colour sensitivity, which further compounds these difficulties.

5. How does AMD affect our day-to-day lives?

AMD is a very difficult condition to live with because the centre of our vision is possibly the most important part of our eyesight.

AMD sufferers will begin to struggle to do anything which requires a clear focal point at the centre of their vision, affecting pastimes such as reading or sewing, but also necessary independent living requirements like cooking, food preparation and driving.

Sadly, AMD also reduces our ability to see faces in detail, meaning that long-term patients can feel more isolated due to a lack of human interconnectivity.

6. Is AMD treatable?

As mentioned before, there is no cure for AMD, but there are several treatment options available.

These include:

1. Anti-angiogenesis Drugs
2. Laser Therapy
3. Low Vision Aids
4. Submacular Surgery

Anti-angiogenesis drugs will suppress the forming of blood vessels underneath the retina, stopping the leaking process. These are injected directly into the eye, and according to the NHS they slow the symptoms in 9/10 patients. Laser therapy can destroy large, abnormal blood vessels in your eye, preventing future leakage. Low vision aids use special lenses to clarify the world around someone with AMD, allowing them to make use of the vision they still have. These don’t necessarily treat the condition but aim to improve the vision they still have. Submacular surgery involves surgery directly upon harmful blood vessels, removing them by hand.

7. How does a Serious Light help with Macular Degeneration?

Patients with any form of macular degeneration can benefit from a Serious Light due to its multi-function and customisable options.

The variable colour choices of the bulb can support those who struggle with certain colour vision, allowing them to choose a bulb best suited to their needs, likely one with a brighter colour temperature.

The excellent angle-adjustment for beam width in the HD light gives AMD sufferers the ability to place a very wide-angled light over their hobby material, meaning that they have a much better chance of seeing with the stronger points of vision that they still have.

This also applies to the great angle adjustment of the lamp head, meaning you can tilt the light to any degree you wish, allowing you to maximise the light on the page, which falls under the specific remaining vision an AMD patient still has.

Sources:

1. Macular Society.
2. NHS.
3. NHS.
4. WEBMD.