Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Safeguard Your Central Vision

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a disease that affects the macula. If left untreated, it can cause your central vision to become blurry, developing dark spots or other vision issues. This, in turn, can affect your ability to read, drive, and recognize faces.

AMD is the leading cause of blindness in patients over the age of fifty, and currently affects approximately 1.4 million Canadians. Like other forms of eye disease, AMD rarely exhibits symptoms until irreversible vision loss has already occurred.

AMD has two main forms: dry and wet. Dry AMD is less serious, but can develop into wet AMD if left untreated. Dry AMD occurs when the macula becomes too thin to support the eye’s photoreceptor cells. When this happens, the photoreceptor cells die off, causing vision loss. Wet AMD is less common, and occurs when the blood vessels under the macula begin to swell and become misshapen, eventually leaking blood and other fluid, which damages the delicate photoreceptor cells.

What Causes AMD?

Age-related macular degeneration is caused by the deterioration of the macula, which is located on the central portion of the retina. Unfortunately, scientists are still not entirely sure what causes AMD to develop.