Macular degeneration
How often does it occur?
Ultimately, this eye condition develops in 20% of people over the age of 55. Among the over-70s, the number is about 37%. Due to the aging of the population, the number of people with macular degeneration is increasing rapidly.
How does it occur?
In macular degeneration, cells (cones) in the central part of the retina die. This part is called the macula and is also called the yellow spot. Due to the death of the cones, you see less well and sharply.
The retina contains light-sensitive cells: rods and cones. These play an important role in converting light into images. The macula has a surface of a few millimetres. There are many cones in the macula. The cones allow you to see colours and contrast. You need them to see details properly. You also use them, for example, when reading, driving and recognizing faces. Because there are so many cones in the macula, you see the sharpest with this part of the retina.
The 2 different forms of macular degeneration
The most common form is dry macular degeneration; waste products accumulate and damage the cells and slowly die. This form occurs in 80% of the cases.
The remaining 20% have wet macular degeneration and new abnormal vessels of poor quality are formed.
Treatment
There is currently no effective treatment for the dry form.
The most common treatment for wet macular degeneration is drug injections into the eye. The drugs inhibit the growth of the blood vessels. The injections work best in the early stages of wet macular degeneration. After treatment, macular degeneration proceeds as with the dry form.
The ophthalmologist injects the medication into the eye with a very thin needle. Your eye will be anesthetized with eye drops beforehand. The drug only works for a few weeks. You will usually receive another injection after 4-6 weeks. You will receive three injections in total.
The injections ensure that approximately 60% of people's eyesight does not further deteriorate during the first few years. An improvement even occurs for 20-30%. After a number of years, the effect of the treatment seems to disappear. The vision is then the same as just before giving the injections. Still, the injections do make sense. Not giving injections in case of wet macular degeneration means a rapid deterioration of the visual field anyway.
Detecting macular degeneration
A simple and easy test to see if you may have macular degeneration is the test with the Amsler chart (see below).
If you see squiggly lines when looking at this chart, please contact your GP for a referral to an ophthalmologist.
