How is macular degeneration diagnosed?
Regular eye exams are the key to early detection of macular degeneration since symptoms may or may not be present in people who have the disease. Early drusen can be seen in an eye exam before symptoms develop, so you should visit your eye care professional regularly. If you notice any of the warning signs described in the previous section, or if you begin to experience difficulty: • recognizing faces, • reading (print looks fragmented or distorted and colors appear muted), • watching TV (image is blurry or parts of image are obstructed), • seeing street or highway signs when driving call your eye doctor immediately. Eye Exam During the eye exam, your eye doctor will inquire about any eye problems you may be having as well as your general medical and family history. He or she will typically perform several tests to assess your vision and then examine the internal structures of the eye. These include: Visual Acuity Test Your eye exam will typically begin with a visual acuity test. This
The major symptoms of macular degeneration are: 1) When viewing an Amsler grid, some straight lines appear wavy, and some patches of the grid appear blank. 2) When visual acuity is measured with a Snellen chart, visual acuity has typically declined by at least 2 lines (e.g. 20/20 -> 20/80) if macular degeneration has occurred. 3) In dry macular degeneration, drusen spots are evident in fundus photographs (i.e. photographs of the retina). 4) In wet macular degeneration, when angiography is performed, leakage of the indicator dye into the bloodstream is seen from blood vessels behind the macula. 5) When an electroretinogram is performed, the electrical signal obtained when a point in the macula is illuminated, is weaker or absent compared to a normal eye. 6) Visual acuity and color sensitivity are similar for the three primary colors, red, green and blue.
