Macular Degeneration Assessment
What is Macular Degeneration?
![Image showing the effects of Macular Degeneration, with a black smudge in central vision](https://eyeslidsandface.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Dr-maeve-o-doherty-macular-degeneration-1024x683.jpg)
Symptoms
Macular degeneration symptoms can occur in one or both eyes and affect your central vision. It does not affect eye appearance and isn’t painful.
Early symptoms can include blurry vision or distorted vision. As it worsens, you may be unable to see things in the central part of your vision and often lose the ability to see fine details, close up and far away. You may lose the ability to recognise individual faces.
Other symptoms include straight lines appearing wavy, colours seeming less bright, and objects appearing smaller than they are.
Causes
The exact causes of this disease are unknown, however, there is evidence that certain people are at a higher risk. Those include smokers, overweight people, people with high blood pressure, and people with a family history of AMD.
It is recommended that those with AMD quit smoking, exercise regularly and maintain a healthy lifestyle with their diet. They must also have regular eye checks with their optician.