Maculopathy is a disease of the macula, the area in the center of the retina responsible for accurate vision. Macular degeneration is the most common form, causing irreversible vision loss, while macular pucker is treatable. Symptoms include blind spots, wrinkling, swelling, and obscured vision.
Maculopathy is any disease of the macula, an area in the center of the retina responsible for accurate vision. The retina is a light-sensitive tissue that lines the inner surface of the eye, and the macula is a yellow, oval-shaped area about five millimeters in diameter. While damage to other areas of the retina can result in loss of peripheral vision, which may go unnoticed for a while, maculopathy causes damage to central vision that the patient usually notices immediately.
One of the most common diseases of the macula is macular degeneration, in which vision loss gets worse over time. Macular degeneration is usually age-related, AMD for short, or ARMD. Macular degeneration begins when small yellow or white deposits called drusen form on the macula. Most people over the age of 40 have a few small drusen with no effect on their vision, a situation called age-related maculopathy. Age-related maculopathy is more likely to develop into advanced macular degeneration if the drusen are large and soft rather than small and hard.
Macular degeneration causes macular holes to form, leading to blind spots in central vision. Macular holes can also be caused by trauma, although the incidence is low. If a strong blow causes damage to the blood vessels leading to the macula, vision loss can also occur. Leventinese disease, also called Doyne’s honeycomb retinal dystrophy, is a type of inherited macular degeneration in which drusen begin to form in early adulthood. The drusen eventually form a honeycomb pattern on the macula and, like AMD, Leventinese disease leads to irreversible vision loss.
Macular pucker is another relatively common form of this disorder, particularly in the elderly population. Macular pucker occurs due to a change in the vitreous humor, clear jelly inside the eyeball, or as a symptom of diabetes. Unlike macular degeneration, macular pucker is usually completely treatable, unless it’s very advanced.
Macular pucker is characterized by a convergence of cells at the macula, which then move apart, causing many macular symptoms. The cell layer can shrink and cause the macula to wrinkle or wrinkle, or it can cause macular edema or swelling. Macular edema is the accumulation of fluid and proteins on or under the macula, which can lead to blurred central vision. Another possible symptom is cellophane maculopathy, in which a thin, shiny membrane forms on the retina and obscures the patient’s vision.
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