Dry macular degeneration is an early stage of disease. It may result from the thinning and aging of macular tissues, pigment deposition in the macula or also from combination of both the processes.
It is diagnosed when yellow spots begin to accumulate around the macula. These spots are debris or deposits from deteriorating tissue. Gradually it may result in central vision loss. Usually it is not as severe as wet macular degeneration.
Treatment for Macular Degeneration Dry
FDA-approved treatments are not available for dry AMD, although a few treatments are in clinical trials.
Prevention for Macular Degeneration Dry
- Certain nutrients such as vitamin C, vitamin E and beta carotene (vitamin A) can help to slow progression or prevent dry macular degeneration.
- High doses of certain nutritional supplements that are found in eye vitamins can reduce risk of dry AMD progression by 25%.
- Dry AMD patients are recommended to wear UV protection sunglasses to protect from harmful effects of the sun.
Risk factors for macular degeneration development include:
- Aging: Vision loss accompanying advanced forms of macular degeneration increases from less than 1% among people in their 60s to more than 15% among people in their 90s.
- Obesity and inactivity: Normal body weight patients with macular degeneration have less risk of developing advanced form of AMD when compared to overweight patients. If patients perform vigorous activity at least three times weekly can reduce their risk compared with inactive patients.
- High blood pressure: Some reports demonstrate that high blood pressure can be associated with macular degeneration development.
- Heredity: Heredity is also one of the factor which develops macular degeneration.
- Smoking: Reports suggest that smoking is one of the major risk factor associated with AMD. It was found that about 25% of AMD patients with severe vision loss are due to smoking.
- Drug side effects: Toxic drugs such as phenothiazine or aralen can cause side effects which results in AMD.
According to The American Academy of Ophthalmology some of the risk factors mentioned above have been contradictory. These studies show that the major risk factors associated with this eye disease are smoking and aging.
