What is AMD?
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a chronic, progressive disease that affects the central field of vision and can lead to blindness. AMD attacks the macula, a part of the retina that allows us to see objects located straight ahead of us.
Think About the Eye as a Camera
With a camera, damage to the film or digital processor results in blurry pictures. In the human eye, a macula damaged by AMD results in loss of central vision.
Learn more about AMD and the first warning signs.
What are the risk factors for AMD?
The primary risk factors for AMD include:
- Age 50 or older
- Family history of AMD
- Caucasian (white)
- Smoker or past smoker
- Overweight
- Heart disease, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol
Age is the biggest risk factor for AMD. In fact, nearly 1 in 8 adults over the age of 60 suffer from this chronic disease. Family history also plays a significant role in the likelihood of developing AMD.
AMD Impacts Daily Tasks
- Walking
- Driving
- Reading
- Watching TV
- Recognizing faces
- Eye-hand coordination (such as putting a key in a door)
Are You at Risk?
If you are over age 50 or have a family history of AMD, talk to your eye care professional now about early detection.
How Do I Know if I Have AMD?
As a progressive disease, AMD reveals itself in stages:
- Subclinical AMD
- Early AMD
- Intermediate AMD
- Late AMD
Subclinical AMD
Subclinical AMD can last for several years and often goes unnoticed. The first warning sign comes in the form of trouble seeing at night. Many people blame poor night vision (caused by impaired dark adaptation) on the normal aging process and don’t report the symptom to their doctor.
Don’t make that mistake. If you begin having difficulty seeing at night, reading in dim light, or adjusting to seeing in the dark, tell your eye care professional. Identifying AMD at this point can be critical to delaying significant vision loss.
Early and Intermediate AMD
Before research showed that impaired dark adaptation is the first symptom of AMD, eye care professionals relied on identifying the disease during the early or intermediate stages. At this point, your doctor may see drusen — yellow deposits of fatty protein under your retina — which is an indicator of AMD.
Late AMD
During late-stage AMD, people start to notice central vision blurriness. The transition from early-stage to late-stage AMD can happen rapidly. If left untreated, it can lead to legal blindness in as little as six months. While treatment options can slow the progression of late AMD, nothing can reverse the damage already done.
I have advanced AMD and I wish the AdaptDx Pro had been available for me years ago. Maybe I wouldn’t be here today. I wouldn’t want anyone to go through this if there’s a way to prevent it or treat it early and give people a better quality of life for longer period of time. I encourage everybody. Take advantage of this technology. It’s wonderful.
Take Action
The earlier your doctor diagnoses AMD, the more proactive measures you can take to try to delay, or even prevent, blindness. If you have any risk factors or symptoms, talk to your eye care professional about testing for AMD early by measuring dark adaptation speed with the AdaptDx Pro®.