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To Treat Macular Degeneration Bethesda Is Worth Visiting

By Virginia Howard


Muscular degeneration is the leading source of visual problems among many Americans. Most people are affected by this condition since a large number of the population is old. Macular degeneration (MD) alludes to the decay of the macula area of the eye. This is a little focal area of the eye in charge of controlling visual sharpness. It is located in the retina. When one needs to treat macular degeneration Bethesda offers the perfect location to visit.

The human eye is only capable of reading, recognizing faces, and doing any other task that requires seeing fine details if the macula is in good health. A study in the US reveals that Americans who are aged 40 and above have some level of macular degeneration. MD is more prevalent among older white population, with 14 percent of white Americans who are above 80 years of age being affected.

Mainly, there is the dry or wet diagnosis of the macular degeneration. Dry MD has alternatively been called the non-neovascular MD whereas the wet one is called neovascular MD. Naturally, neovascular is a word that refers to the new blood vessels that grow in an area they are not intended to. Such an area is the macula.

Dry MD has been found out to be more common than the wet form. As a matter of fact, 85 to 90 percent of majority of diagnoses made are for dry MD. Whenever looked at, the wet type of the ailment normally prompts more serious problems in vision than the dry form. In the two types of the malady, focal vision is the one that is affected the most, causing blind spots ahead.

Dry MD is usually caused by various factors, but the main factor is aging and thinning of macular tissues. As the tissues age and thin, they deposit pigment in the macular. Thus, dry MD may be caused by age, which happens to more to older individuals. Secondly, the condition may occur to young people when the macular starts to thin.

Usually, the loss caused by the dry form is not as severe as the one caused by wet MD. However, it may result to the retinal cells degrading within a span of many years. This leads to vision loss later in equal severity. Currently, dry MD has no FDA-approved treatment although there are a few drugs which are in their clinical trial stages.

Ongoing research shows that the risks involved with dry MD advancing to wet can highly be minimized through a diet rich in lutein and zeaxanthin. On the other hand, it has not been concluded if nutritional supplements can prevent the general effects of MD. Eating a healthy diet, exercising and wearing glasses have been suggested as ways of preventing development of MD.

According to studies, 10 percent of dry MD progress into wet MD. Wet MD occurs when new blood vessels start to grow underneath the retina. As they grow, they start to leak blood and fluid. The leaking blood and fluids destroy retinal cells that are responsible for vision. As such, permanent loss of vision and development of blind spots occur to central vision.




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