Ask an Expert about Macular Degeneration

Asking to check your prescription may be very helpful, especially in fixing your distance vision. The lack of clarity in distance vision may be from a variety of reasons including dry eyes, cataract, or refractive error, in addition to your dry age-related macular degeneration. Your ophthalmologist can help you sort out what issues you might have and how you can address these problems, if possible. He or she will perform an eye exam to identify these causes in addition to the refraction performed to determine if a change in glasses prescription would be beneficial.

Mini strokes are not thought to have a causal relationship to age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). Both medical conditions are more common in older patients. Mini strokes are associated with blood vessel problems such as atherosclerosis; however, a link between atherosclerosis and ARMD has not been definitively been proven.

Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) typically affects people older than 55 years of age. Your husband likely has another type of macular degeneration. Without knowing the specific type of macular degeneration it is difficult to better inform you about prognosis and treatments. Many of the non-ARMD types of macular degeneration are genetic in nature and rare. Please ask your retina specialist for the specific type of macular degeneration your husband has so that you can better inform yourself. Referral to a center that specializes in inherited retinal diseases may be worthwhile as well.

Intermittent bright halos can be caused from a variety of reasons. Common causes include dry eyes, cataracts, and optical aberrations from any glasses that are worn. Other rarer and more visually threatening causes also exist. Early-stage age-related macular degeneration typically does not cause patients to complain of bright halos. Please speak to your retina specialist about what might be causing your symptoms. Often this determination can be made after a clinical examination.

Best's macular dystrophy is a separate disease from age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). If you have dilated examinations of the retina regularly, it is unlikely that you have Best macular dystrophy, but please confirm this with your retina specialist. Typically Best macular dystrophy only causes mild vision loss until the advanced stages; however, this disease can cause significant vision loss later on in life. You can read more about this disease on the EyeWiki site where ophthalmologists, other physicians, patients, and the public can view an eye encyclopedia of content written by ophthalmologists. Your son may benefit from evaluation from a low vision specialist. While the low vision specialist cannot improve vision from Best macular dystrophy, he or she can help obtain training, develop strategies, and obtain assistive devices so that your son can accomplish daily tasks.

The eye injections such as Lucentis, Avastin, and Eylea are the currently best available treatments for wet age related macular degeneration (ARMD). These injections have been shown in multiple clinical trials to prevent vision loss in 90 percent of patients, and to improve vision in about 30 – 40 percent. Your mother in eye may not be in the 30 – 40 percent of patients that observe significant visual improvement with the eye injections. The eye injections do not cure wet ARMD, they only control it. Stopping injections thus could lead to the worsening of ARMD and possibly permanent loss of vision. Even though she cannot see the big E now, her vision could certainly deteriorate without treatment and become worse.

Driving requirements varies from state to state; however, typically if the patient has one eye that can see at a designated level and has a specific amount of visual field remaining, he or she is legal to drive. Please confirm with your retina specialist that the vision in the eye that is not undergoing injections is sufficient for legal driving in Virginia.

You are exactly correct in thinking that many people with age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) may not notice changes in vision for many years after the onset of the disease. The majority of vision is lost in patients with the wet form ARMD. Certain risk factors can identify patients at higher likelihood of development wet ARMD, so regular follow up visits with your retina specialist is very valuable in early detection of disease progression.

Certain iris colors have not consistently been associated with higher risk of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). ARMD has a genetic component, and children of parents with ARMD are likely at higher risk of developing the disease themselves. The genetic component of ARMD does not follow Mendelian inheritance patterns, and also is likely not related to inheritance of iris color. A Mendelian inheritance pattern is defined by a condition resulting from two genes, one inherited from each patient, and these genes come randomly from each parent.