AGE- RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION

Abstract

Age rel ated macul a r degen erati on is the first cause of registered blin d ness in d evel oped co untri es and western communiti es a fl cr the age o r 50, the preva l ence of the di sease increases with age, a nd other risk factors

h ave been iden tified. The atrophic form is th e most frequent form a n d results in modera te decrease in visual acuity. But the "wet" neovascula r fonn i s associ ated in natural history wi th a centra l scot oma wi thin 2 years, the disease in volves both eyes with time. Flu orescein an gi ography a ll ows an accurate d i agnosis in identi fying th e subretin al new-vessels, a nd th eir l oca ti on , t he effici ency of blue green argon l aser has been demonstra ted when the n ew vessels extend at more th an 200 mi crons from the center of th e m acul a other fonn a krypton laser h ave been used al so (Soubrane et a/., 1989).

As age-rel ated macul opathy is a l eading cause of penna n ent vision

l oss in elde rl y people. So it is an important public health probl em w hi ch w ill i ncrease in magnitude as the num ber of aged peopl e i n crease. The consequen cies of this condition are exacerbated by the fact that treatmen t, especia ll y of th e atrophi c fonn of the disease is ineffecti ve (Swann eta/., 1990).

Patien ts who are at risk to h ave n eovascul ar mem brane or to h ave recu rren ce after photocoagul ati on by l aser sh ould use an Amsl er grid to detect a n y vi sual changes early also the rol e of dietary s u pplements in p reven tin g a n d t reat macul a r degeneration (zinc t ablet) are ad vised ( Furber and Farber , 1990).