Macular Degeneration  Symptoms-4u

Macular Degeneration

Macular degeneration or age related macular degeneration is a disease that blurs the sharp, central vision you need for straight-ahead activities such as reading, sewing, and driving. Macular degeneration affects the macula, the part of the eye that allows you to see fine detail.

Macular degeneration occurs in two forms: wet and dry.

Symptoms of dry macular degeneration  may include:

• Colors that appear less bright
• Difficulty recognizing faces
• Gradual increase in the haziness of your overall vision
• Blurred or blind spot in the center of your visual field combined with a profound drop in your central vision acuity
• A need to scan your eyes all around an object to provide a more complete image
• The need for increasingly bright illumination when reading or doing close work
• Increasing difficulty adapting to low levels of illumination, such as when entering a dimly lit restaurant
• Printed words that appear increasingly blurry

 Wet macular degeneration symptoms may progress rapidly and may include:

• Decrease in or loss of central vision
  Visual distortions, such as straight lines appearing wavy or crooked, a doorway or street sign that seems out of whack, or objects appearing smaller or farther away than they should
• Central blurry spot

In either form of macular degeneration, your vision may falter in one eye while the other remains fine for years. You may not notice any or much change because your good eye compensates for the weak one. Your vision and lifestyle begin to be dramatically affected when this condition develops in both eyes.