The macula is responsible for central vision, providing you with fine details and colors that you need for everyday activities. As we age, its performance declines over time.

Macular degeneration’s initial and intermediate stages often progress without visible symptoms, with yellow protein deposits known as drusen appearing beneath the retina.

Macular degeneration occurs when abnormal blood vessels proliferate and leak fluid or blood under the retina, leading to rapid decrease of straight ahead vision.

1. Blurred or hazy vision

Macular degeneration (AMD), an age-related eye disease, gradually destroys central vision over time. AMD affects the macula – an area of nerve tissue in the back of your retina that sends information to your brain about what you are seeing – which sends signals about what it detects to the brain about what it sees. Without clear central vision it becomes harder to read, drive or recognize faces or colors and can make everyday activities such as threading a needle and driving much more challenging.

Macular degeneration is one of the leading causes of severe, permanent vision loss among people over 60. Risk increases with age and is even greater if someone in your family already has this disease. Smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, obesity and having light-colored eyes are additional risk factors.

Blurred or hazy vision can be an early telltale sign of macular degeneration, yet can easily go undetected if left unnoticed. If this occurs to you, make an appointment with your eye care provider immediately for a comprehensive dilated exam to evaluate further.

Macular degeneration comes in two varieties, dry and wet. Dry degeneration occurs as the macula thins with age, becoming associated with deposits under the retina known as drusen that indicate what stage the disease has reached: early, intermediate or advanced stages. Wet macular degeneration, also known as exudative or geographic atrophy, occurs when abnormal blood vessels form under the retina of one’s eye and leak fluid or bleed into the macula, causing rapid vision loss and profound visual distortions. Diagnosis is confirmed using OCT angiography or fundus fluorescein angiography techniques to identify leakage patterns of new choroidal blood vessels leaking fluid or blood.

Are You Experienceing Blurred or Hazy Vision Unexpectedly? Take It Seriously If your vision suddenly changes suddenly and becomes clouded or blurry, this should be taken as a serious sign and treated immediately by seeking medical advice from a provider as this could indicate serious life-threatening conditions such as high blood pressure in the eyes (retinopathy) or excess protein in urine (preeclampsia). If there are health concerns immediately contact your physician.

2. Difficulty reading

Struggling with reading may be one of the telltale signs that you have macular degeneration. This condition results in a breakdown of your macula, part of the retina (light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye) responsible for central vision; when this part becomes compromised it compromises reading, driving or any activity which requires clear central vision – making macular degeneration a serious threat to everyday activities like reading, driving and more.

Macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness among those aged 50 or above, and is a chronic disease that destroys sharp, central vision. Although macular degeneration doesn’t lead to complete blindness, you still retain peripheral vision on either side. As central vision diminishes it becomes difficult to see faces, drive safely or work with computers or smartphones effectively.

Macular degeneration comes in two varieties, dry and wet. Drusen are yellow protein deposits found under the retina that don’t immediately cause any noticeable vision changes; over time they may increase in size or number indicating worsening macular degeneration. Wet macular degeneration is less prevalent but more serious, where abnormal blood vessels form under the retina that leak fluid or blood into it from beneath; your doctor can diagnose this type of macular degeneration through an OCT scan which provides detailed cross-sectional images of your retinal surface.

Macular degeneration only affects your central vision, leaving peripheral vision intact and enabling you to continue driving, grocery shopping and using the bathroom even with advanced macular degeneration. You just may have to be more cautious than before when performing these tasks – take extra precaution if driving is an issue for you and if trouble driving arises contact your physician as quickly as possible as early detection will make treatment faster and simpler; or try some simple strategies such as sitting farther back when viewing screens or reading with brighter lights for maximum benefit when reading books for example!

3. Difficulty driving

Macular degeneration affects the macula of your retina, which is responsible for straight-ahead vision. Your macula allows you to drive, read, work on a computer or smartphone, recognize faces and colors and perform other daily activities – however with macular degeneration these activities may become increasingly challenging, or even impossible.

As your condition worsens, you’ll become increasingly limited in performing tasks requiring sharp, central vision – including driving or other forms of activity that depend on it. As time progresses, driving may become impossible or you may need to enter long-term care facility – both scenarios having profound psychological ramifications; older adults in particular are 5 times more likely to experience depression after losing their license than gaining one again.

Macular degeneration, the leading cause of severe vision loss among adults over age 50, occurs when there are changes to your retina’s macula – making it harder to see objects and details straight ahead. Symptoms may include blurriness, dark areas or distortion in central vision – with subsequent loss of daily tasks like reading or driving becoming harder with each passing year.

Macular degeneration typically develops without pain and progresses gradually over time, so early signs may be hard to detect due to subtle symptoms. Therefore, regular eye exams are crucial in order to detect early symptoms so treatment options can be implemented that could halt further progression of AMD.

Macular degeneration occurs most frequently in its dry form, where yellow protein deposits known as drusen form under your retina and begin to proliferate without pain or vision loss; they do indicate, however, an increased risk for wet forms like wet AMD where abnormal blood vessels grow under your retina and start leaking fluid or blood into it causing problems with vision that require laser treatment such as Visudyne.

4. Loss of central vision

Central vision is essential to reading, driving and seeing faces. When the macula in your eye begins to degrade, you may begin experiencing difficulty seeing details directly in front of you. This is because your macula sends images directly to the brain from a small spot in your retina; when its functionality declines it can result in blurriness, dark areas or distortion that makes things like threading needles or driving more challenging.

Macular degeneration is one of the primary causes of severe vision loss in those over 50. The condition occurs when changes occur to a small area on your retina that sits inside your back eye layer, known as your macula, containing millions of light-sensitive cells that help you see fine details and objects at their center.

Macular degeneration occurs most commonly as dry AMD. This form of the disease forms when yellow deposits called drusen spread under the retina and form and break down. Early stages of dry macular degeneration do not lead to any loss of vision; however, over 85% of people living with dry AMD eventually progress into advanced dry macular degeneration.

Wet macular degeneration is more serious, threatening rapid loss of vision. This occurs when abnormal blood vessels grow under the retina and start leaking fluid and blood, forcing it to rise out from its usual position at the back of your eye and start affecting its position in its original position. Common symptoms of wet macular degeneration include straight lines appearing wavy or having dark spots appear within your field of vision.

Early detection is key for macular degeneration prevention. After age 50, it is advised to schedule a comprehensive eye exam every one to two years in order to assess for macular degeneration symptoms such as slowing vision loss rates. Treatment options exist that may help slow this disease’s progress; and it is also important to avoid risk factors like smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, eating foods high in saturated fats and having light eyes as these could increase its progress further.