Fig.1 Normal vision

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the common eye diseases after age 50. It causes vision loss in the center of your field of vision. There are two types of age-related macular degeneration: dry AMD and wet AMD. Dry AMD is the more common form of the disease, which is marked by deterioration of the macula, which is in the center of the retina. Wet macular degeneration is characterized by blood vessels that grow under the retina in the back of the eye, leaking blood and fluid. Only about 10% of patients suffering from macular degeneration have the wet type

Fig.2 Vision with AMD

Symptoms

Dry macular degeneration symptoms usually develop gradually. You may notice these vision changes:
· The need for brighter light when reading or doing close work
·Increasing difficulty adapting to low light levels, such as when entering a dimly lit restaurant
·Increasing blurriness of printed words
·A decrease in the intensity or brightness of colors
·Difficulty recognizing faces
·A gradual increase in the haziness of your central or overall vision
·Crooked central vision
·A blurred or blind spot in the center of your field of vision
·Hallucinations of geometric shapes or people, in case of advanced macular degeneration

The Amsler grid test is one of the simplest and most effective methods for patients to monitor the health of their maculae. The Amsler grid is a pattern of intersecting lines (identical to graph paper) with a black dot in the middle. The central black dot is used for focus your eye. With normal vision, when you stare on the black dot, all lines surrounding the black dot will look straight and evenly spaced, with no missing or odd-looking areas (Fig.1). When disease is affecting the macula, as in macular degeneration, the lines can look bent, distorted and/or missing, and the black dot becomes blur or disappear (Fig 2).