What is age-related macular degeneration?

Age-related macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is an age-related degeneration of the macula, i.e., the incidence of this macular degeneration tends to increase with age. The pathogenesis of AMD is still unknown, but the disease affects about 8.5 million people over the age of 40 in the United States. It is the leading cause of blindness in people over 50 years of age in Western countries. The retina is at the back of the human eye, like the film of an under-eye camera, and the macula is located in the center of the retina, which is the sharpest and most critical part of human vision. It enables the unaided to recognize fine objects and identify color sensations, including our daily watching of TV and reading of newspapers, and once the macula is damaged, the visual acuity will be seriously damaged. In the early stage of AMD, some yellowish-white dots, called vitreous warts, are seen under the retina, which do not affect vision. However, in many patients, AMD progresses to severe lesions, and vision is often severely affected. As AMD usually develops in one eye, it is often overlooked at first, and it is extremely common to develop it in both eyes successively. Since the pathogenesis of AMD is unknown, there is currently no treatment for the cause. There are several treatment methods as follows: 1. Laser treatment: the heat energy generated by the laser destroys the abnormal neovascularization in the macula, but the disadvantage is that it also damages the normal tissues in the vicinity, and the visual function will be greatly affected. 2. 2.Transpupillary Thermal Therapy (TTT): Using infrared light to irradiate the macular lesion area with weak energy to make the lesion localized slight warming, so as to achieve the purpose of making the abnormal neovascularization atrophy. The cost of this treatment is low, but there is some damage to the local normal tissues, and the therapeutic effect is not very obvious. 3.Surgical treatment: such as resection of subretinal neovascular membrane, macular transposition. Surgery is risky and the therapeutic effect is not obvious. Retinal transplantation: it is still in the research stage. 4.Photodynamic therapy: it is to inject a specific photosensitive agent into the patient’s blood, when the drug circulates to the retina, a special non-thermal laser irradiation excites the photosensitive agent, thus destroying the abnormal neovascularization without damaging the normal retinal tissue. This treatment is now internationally accessible, safe and effective. No treatment can substantially restore lost visual function. AMD develops in people over 40 years of age and affects both eyes, so people over 40 years of age should have their fundus examined regularly in order to detect the disease in time and seek early treatment.