FREE ESSAY ON MACULAR DEGENERATION

MACULAR DEGENERATION

Macular Degeneration
Condition:
Macular Degeneration is a problem in the part of the eye that controls your sharpest
central vision. It is a group of diseases that result in a loss of detailed vision. The
brain will not just leave the spot empty, so it learns to fill it in with spotty macular
cell damage. People most of the time don't tell their doctors (opthalmologists) about it
until it is well in advance.
There are two types of Macular Degeneration. Juvenile Macular Degeneration affects the
central vision in young children. This takes place in the macula, or the central region
of the retina. The retina is where we are able to read and to distinguish colors. The
main symptoms of Juvenile Macular Degeneration is a reduction in the vision.
Adult Macular Degeneration is usually said to affect only those over 55 years of age.
This type is found in the photosensitive cells in your retina. This includes those that
control critical colors and fine detail vision. These are in the center area in the eye
called the macula.
The many symptoms of Macular Degeneration vary. Sometimes only one eye will lose it's
vision, while the other eye is perfectly normal. There is a decrease of visual acuity.
This means the macula doesn't provide the sharpest vision. The surrounding of the retina
can be used, but it is not as sensitive as the macula. There is also visual distortion.
The damage to the retina may cause wavy vision because of the stretching. Some other
symptoms are blindspots, eccentric viewing, photostress, photophobia, better vision at
night, color vision, peripheral vision sensitivity, hallucinations, and depth
perceptions. These are just some of the things that Macular Degeneration affects.
Macular Degeneration is hard to recognize at the first, but if it affects both eyes than
it becomes a problem. Reading and close up work can be very difficult.
Few people realize that Macular Degeneration is an incurable eye disease and is the
leading cause of blindness in those people older than 55. People with Macular
Degeneration are unable to read, drive a car, recognize faces or colors, and see objects
in fine detail. The macula is the only place in the eye capable of 20/20 vision. 
There are also wet and dry types of Macular Degeneration. The wet type is called
neovascular and the dry type is called atrophic. Wet Macular Degeneration causes more
severe loss of vision. Dry Macular Degeneration is the age-related type. There is no
proven cure for dry Macular Degeneration. 
Cause:
Basically what my research is stating is that there is a major genetic component that
contributes to this disease. There are three general types of hereditary Macular
Degeneration. The first is called early onset. This is when you get it when you are four
years of age up to seven. In this type both parents and their children can be affected.
This means it is dominantly inherited. Most of the time this is called Best Disease or
Viteliform Macular Degeneration. 
The second type is called middle onset. This is from five years of age up to twenty years
of age. This type is called Stargarett's disease. This is the Juvenile Macular
Degeneration. This type is recessively inherited. Meaning that this type can appear even
if only a couple family members have it. 
The third type is called late onset. This is when you get it in your thirties or forties.
This type may have dominant or recessive inheritance. 
Really the cause of Macular Degeneration is unknown. Recently researchers have discovered
that a group of genes called ABCR contribute to the disease. When someone has these genes
the likeliness of this person to form Macular Degeneration increases by 30 percent. In
most situations Macular Degeneration is caused by a combination of environmental and
genetic factors.
History:
Multiple studies have been done on the cure of Macular Degeneration. They have been
studying treatments for many years now. The history of this disease goes back a long way.
The National Eye Institute is the lead agency for vision research. The research should
provide better way to detect, treat, and prevent vision loss in people with this disease.
Scientists have started to study transplanting of healthy cells into a diseased retina.
Even though this work is at a very early stage and still experimental, some day it will
help people to keep their vision or get some of their lost vision back.
Treatment:
Treatment options for Macular Degeneration are still under experiment. This means that
the treatments are not available to the public. Some treatments are only used for wet
Macular Degeneration. It treats the bleeding under the retina. Other treatments only
treat dry Macular Degeneration. Some scientists believe that these treatments may work:
nutrition therapies, electro-stimulation, medications, surgeries to relocate he macula,
and implantation of electronic chips. All of these things are under study at the time.
In the clinical trials large amounts of patients are involved in the studies. This means
that hopefully someday we will find a cure.
Profession:
The doctor that works with Macular Degeneration is called an Opthalmologist. This type of
medical doctor examines and prescribes glasses, diagnoses and treats eye diseases, and
they can evaluate how the person uses both eyes together. Opthalmologists are taught to
do surgery. The main area of expertise of an opthalmologist is eye disease and eye
surgery. Some people say that they credit opthalmologists for the saving of their
eyesight. They help those who have eye diseases or eye injuries. Opthalmologists also use
vision-therapy. This is used to correct many eye diseases without using surgery.
Opthalmologists determine the quality in which your eyes and vision are operating. A
regular visit to the opthalmologist would contain an eye exam so that they could diagnose
the condition.
Bibliography
Bibliography
1. Opthalmologists.The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine.1989ed.
2. An Overview of Macular Degeneration.Macular Degeneration
Foundation.http://www.eyesight.org/All_About_MD/all_about_md.html (29 Dec. 1999).
3. What is Macular Degeneration?American Macular Degeneration
Foundation.http://www.macular.org/thedisease.html (29 Dec. 1999).
4. Macular Degeneration. Introduction to Macular
Degeneration.http://www.eyeassociates.com/images/introduction_to_macular_degenera.html
(29 Dec. 1999).
5. Research and Experimental Treatment.Macular Degeneration
Research.http://www.macd.net/research/index.html (29 Dec. 1999).
6. Choosing An Eye Doctor.Opthalmologists
http://www.children-special-needs.org/parenting/pediatric_opthalmologist.html (29 Dec.
1999).