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Macula Degeneration
Age related macular degeneration or AMD is the leading cause of blindness in people over 60 in the western world.
Very little is known about macular degeneration and how it develops. The macular is the central part of the retina. It is made up mostly of cone type photo receptor cells that are beneath a layer of cells called the retinal pigment epithelium, or RPE. Abnormal waste material builds up beneath and within these RPE cells and eventually these cells die. The rods and cones in the retina depend for their survival upon the normally functioning RPE. So when these cells die, rods and cones are lost and blindness will occur. To make matters worse, the disease provokes a scarring process at the back of the eye with the formation of new blood vessels. The retina is very intolerant of this scarring and again, rods and cones are lost. The exact cause of AMD is unknown but factors that may contribute to the disease are diet, smoking and exposure to ultra violet light.
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