Our eyesight is of utmost importance because our daily activities greatly depend on it, not to mention our enjoyment of life. Eye diseases and disorders are very common which sometimes makes keeping our eyesight safe a challenging task. Macular degeneration is one eye disorder that is considered an age-related condition. Adults aged 60 or older are usually the ones who are suffering from it and this is one of the leading causes of blindness affecting millions of people in the United States. In this disease, the center of our vision field is severely affected.
The macula, which is the center area of our retina, is the part where it gets affected and damaged with macular degeneration. We need our central vision for our eyes because this is required to see objects clearly and is helpful in our everyday activities. Blurred vision, wavy vision or perhaps noticing a blind spot usually present as the symptoms that occur with this type of disease. The peripheral vision is not affected though as it only prevents people from being able to read or recognize faces.
Currently, there are two forms of macular degeneration, the wet macular degeneration and dry macular degeneration. When abnormal blood vessels behind the retina start to grow under the macula, this leads to blood and fluid leakage and results in wet macular degeneration. This can cause serious damage to your eyes and may result to rapid central vision loss. When the macula wears out over time as a result of the aging process it results in what is known as dry macular degeneration. Both of them pose a serious threat though wet macular degeneration is the least common among the two.
This disease is considered to be hereditary which means that there is a larger probability of acquiring it when there is a family history of the disease and there are also other risk factors that are associated with macular degeneration. For example, people who are smokers and those with hypertension, elevated cholesterol or those who are obese or consume a highly fatty diet are considered high risk groups that may have macular degeneration in the future.
One of the several treatments used for this disease today which was made with the help of modern science is a drug called ranibizumab. This is a special type of treatment known as a monoclonal antibody treatment. Ranibizumab is injected once each month into the affected eye. These antibodies then stimulate the patient's immune system to attack the problem directly forcing an immune response. Only the wet form of the disease is treated with ranibizumab, which was created using custom monoclonal antibodies.
In addition to treatments, people can learn to use their peripheral vision more effectively to compensate for the loss of vision in the center of the vision field. There are also adaptive eyeglass lenses and even special computer screen readers that can help make this disease easier to deal with and have less of an impact.
The macula, which is the center area of our retina, is the part where it gets affected and damaged with macular degeneration. We need our central vision for our eyes because this is required to see objects clearly and is helpful in our everyday activities. Blurred vision, wavy vision or perhaps noticing a blind spot usually present as the symptoms that occur with this type of disease. The peripheral vision is not affected though as it only prevents people from being able to read or recognize faces.
Currently, there are two forms of macular degeneration, the wet macular degeneration and dry macular degeneration. When abnormal blood vessels behind the retina start to grow under the macula, this leads to blood and fluid leakage and results in wet macular degeneration. This can cause serious damage to your eyes and may result to rapid central vision loss. When the macula wears out over time as a result of the aging process it results in what is known as dry macular degeneration. Both of them pose a serious threat though wet macular degeneration is the least common among the two.
This disease is considered to be hereditary which means that there is a larger probability of acquiring it when there is a family history of the disease and there are also other risk factors that are associated with macular degeneration. For example, people who are smokers and those with hypertension, elevated cholesterol or those who are obese or consume a highly fatty diet are considered high risk groups that may have macular degeneration in the future.
One of the several treatments used for this disease today which was made with the help of modern science is a drug called ranibizumab. This is a special type of treatment known as a monoclonal antibody treatment. Ranibizumab is injected once each month into the affected eye. These antibodies then stimulate the patient's immune system to attack the problem directly forcing an immune response. Only the wet form of the disease is treated with ranibizumab, which was created using custom monoclonal antibodies.
In addition to treatments, people can learn to use their peripheral vision more effectively to compensate for the loss of vision in the center of the vision field. There are also adaptive eyeglass lenses and even special computer screen readers that can help make this disease easier to deal with and have less of an impact.
About the Author:
Armand Zeiders enjoys blogging regarding biomedical research. For more details regarding custom monoclonal antibody production service, please visit the PrimmBiotech.com site today.
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