Macular Degeneration Disease Glossary
Navigating a diagnosis of an age-related disease can be overwhelming, especially with all the new medical terms involved. Whether you're preparing for a doctor’s visit or simply want to better understand a macular degeneration diagnosis, this glossary serves as a quick reference to help you define and understand commonly used terms.
Cornea
The outer, transparent structure at the front of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber; it is the eye’s primary light-focusing structure.
Drusen
Deposits of yellowish extracellular waste products that accumulate within and beneath the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) layer.
Dry age-related macular degeneration
The most common form of AMD in which the light-sensitive cells of the macula slowly break down, leading to loss of the sharp, fine-detail, “straight ahead” vision required for activities like reading, driving, recognizing faces, and seeing the world in color.
Fovea
The pit or depression at the center of the macula that provides the greatest visual acuity.
Geographic atrophy
An advanced and severe form of dry age-related macular degeneration in which small clusters of cells degenerate and die (atrophy). In retinal images, these regions of dead and dying cells resemble a map, hence the term geographic atrophy.
Iris
The colored ring of tissue behind the cornea that regulates the amount of light entering the eye by adjusting the size of the pupil.