Our eyesight is of utmost importance because our daily activities greatly depend on it, not to mention our enjoyment of life. Eye diseases and disorders are very common which sometimes makes keeping our eyesight safe a challenging task. Macular degeneration is one eye disorder that is considered an age-related condition. Adults aged 60 or older are usually the ones who are suffering from it and this is one of the leading causes of blindness affecting millions of people in the United States. In this disease, the center of our vision field is severely affected.
The center area of our retina is called the macula and this is the part which gets affected and damaged with macular degeneration. To see objects clearly and help in our everyday activities, we need our central vision. People with this type of disease often develop a blind spot or have wavy or blurry vision. However, it is important to consider that this only prevents people from being able to read or recognize faces and that peripheral vision is not affected. While it is not curable, it is not a disease that causes complete blindness.
Currently, there are two forms of macular degeneration, the wet macular degeneration and dry macular degeneration. When abnormal blood vessels behind the retina start to grow under the macula, this leads to blood and fluid leakage and results in wet macular degeneration. This can cause serious damage to your eyes and may result to rapid central vision loss. When the macula wears out over time as a result of the aging process it results in what is known as dry macular degeneration. Both of them pose a serious threat though wet macular degeneration is the least common among the two.
There are also other risk factors that are associated with macular degeneration. Aside from simply aging, individuals who are smokers and those with high cholesterol or high blood pressure also have been found to be at a higher risk. Those who consume a high fat diet or who are obese also seem to have a higher risk. However, this disease is highly hereditary, so if you have a relative with macular degeneration, you are at a higher risk of developing this disease.
With the aid of modern science, there are now several treatments used for this disease, such as ranibizumab. This is a monoclonal antibody treatment which is injected once each month directly into the eye. This is when antibodies are used to stimulate the patient's immune system to target and attack specific cells. Custom monoclonal antibodies were used in the creation of this drug, which can be used only to treat the wet form of macular degeneration.
People can also train their eyesight to use their peripheral vision more effectively to compensate for the loss of vision in the center of the vision field. Today there are computer screen readers and adaptive eyeglass lenses that can help make this disease easier to deal with and have less of an effect on one's daily life.
The center area of our retina is called the macula and this is the part which gets affected and damaged with macular degeneration. To see objects clearly and help in our everyday activities, we need our central vision. People with this type of disease often develop a blind spot or have wavy or blurry vision. However, it is important to consider that this only prevents people from being able to read or recognize faces and that peripheral vision is not affected. While it is not curable, it is not a disease that causes complete blindness.
Currently, there are two forms of macular degeneration, the wet macular degeneration and dry macular degeneration. When abnormal blood vessels behind the retina start to grow under the macula, this leads to blood and fluid leakage and results in wet macular degeneration. This can cause serious damage to your eyes and may result to rapid central vision loss. When the macula wears out over time as a result of the aging process it results in what is known as dry macular degeneration. Both of them pose a serious threat though wet macular degeneration is the least common among the two.
There are also other risk factors that are associated with macular degeneration. Aside from simply aging, individuals who are smokers and those with high cholesterol or high blood pressure also have been found to be at a higher risk. Those who consume a high fat diet or who are obese also seem to have a higher risk. However, this disease is highly hereditary, so if you have a relative with macular degeneration, you are at a higher risk of developing this disease.
With the aid of modern science, there are now several treatments used for this disease, such as ranibizumab. This is a monoclonal antibody treatment which is injected once each month directly into the eye. This is when antibodies are used to stimulate the patient's immune system to target and attack specific cells. Custom monoclonal antibodies were used in the creation of this drug, which can be used only to treat the wet form of macular degeneration.
People can also train their eyesight to use their peripheral vision more effectively to compensate for the loss of vision in the center of the vision field. Today there are computer screen readers and adaptive eyeglass lenses that can help make this disease easier to deal with and have less of an effect on one's daily life.
About the Author:
Armand Zeiders loves blogging regarding biomedical research. For more details regarding custom monoclonal antibody production service, please check out the PrimmBiotech.com website today.
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