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In some cases, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) advances so slowly that people notice little change in their vision. In others, the disease progresses faster and may lead to a loss of vision in both eyes.
Your retina needs nourishment to survive. Nutrients arrive from blood vessels, which also deposit waste products.
As we age, some waste products, or drusen, accumulate in a membrane beneath your retina. The accumulation can interfere with the transfer of nutrients and waste products between your blood vessels and retina. Your eye can respond to drusen and the lack of nutrients in 2 ways.
One response is that your retina cells die. This response leads to dry macular degeneration. As drusen accumulates, cells die and vision can gradually blur. Fortunately, vision loss is usually not rapid and severe. Some patients may not experience vision changes at all. The treatment goal is to prevent or reduce the formation of debris in the early stages of the condition.
The second way your eye responds is to create new abnormal blood vessels in your retina. Unfortunately, these abnormal blood vessels can leak blood or fluids and cause wet macular degeneration. This may create a blister on the surface of your retina. Symptoms may vary; however, distorted blurred vision is typical. Loss of vision can be rapid. The treatment goal is to stop the formation and leakage of abnormal blood vessels before the light-sensitive cells in your retina are destroyed.
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