Does Macular Degeneration Cause Total Blindness

At first there is little or no vision loss.

Does macular degeneration cause total blindness.

If only one eye is affected you may not notice any changes in your vision because your good eye may compensate for the weak eye. These changes may be the first indication of macular degeneration particularly if you re older than age 50. What is macular degeneration. A person who has been diagnosed with macular degeneration is naturally concerned about permanently losing their sight since the eye disease is the number one cause of severe blindness.

Your ability to see colors and fine detail becomes impaired. Patients with macular degeneration lose their central vision. There are some forms of macular degeneration that can cause a rapid deterioration of vision unfortunately. The peripheral vision however is left untouched so macular degeneration does not by itself lead to total blindness.

As the disease progresses your vision can become blurred or distorted in the center of the vision. It s estimated that more than 10 million americans have this disease. Macular degeneration is a disease of the macula a small area in the retina at the back of the eye. And the condition doesn t affect side peripheral vision so it rarely causes total blindness.

Other disorders however can cause problems with your peripheral vision such as cataracts and glaucoma. When to see a doctor. Your peripheral vision generally will remain intact except for highly advanced cases of wet amd. Can the dry form of amd lead to the wet form.

The patients lose their ability to take part in activities. Macular degeneration doesn t affect side peripheral vision so it rarely causes total blindness. The macula allows you to see fine details clearly and do things such as read and drive. You notice changes in your central vision.

When the macula does not work properly your central vision can be blurry and you may have areas that are dark or distorted. Macular degeneration doesn t cause total blindness because it doesn t affect your peripheral vision. Amd does not cause total blindness but only loss of central vision. Amd does not cause total blindness because side vision is not affected.

When the central region of the retina starts to deteriorate macular degeneration occurs. These wet forms of macular degeneration involve the growth of blood vessels deep within the eye and when those vessels leak or burst they cause rapid loss of vision. When the photoreceptors in the macula degrade patients go blind. Dry macular degeneration usually affects both eyes.

Age related macular degeneration or amd is the most common cause of vision loss in people over the age of 55.