6 Myths About Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Debunked

Our eyes play a crucial role in understanding the world around us, a remarkable and complex organ that employs numerous delicate mechanisms to enable binocular vision. The macula of your eye provides an example, located at the center of your retina. Once light passes through the cornea and lens, it uses photoreceptors, enabling precise and vibrant vision.

Eye diseases like age-related macular degeneration (AMD) lessen the macula’s ability to perform its function and can lead to vision loss over time. This diagnosis can be scary, and to make matters worse, many people have been misinformed about life with this illness. To shed some light on issues concerning this disease, let’s examine the myths and give you the facts.

Dr. Jeffrey Rapkin and the experienced medical staff at Retina Consultants of Muncie help the people of Muncie, Indiana, with numerous eye problems, including managing life with age-related macular degeneration.

Age-related macular degeneration basics

The damage done to your macula with this disease affects your central vision, making it more difficult to make out things directly in front of you. It’s often referred to as age-related macular degeneration because it’s more likely to occur in older individuals, typically starting around age 50 (although it can happen at a younger age). It occurs in one or both eyes, in varying severity. 

Two types of macular degeneration happen in patients: exudative (wet) or atrophic (dry), with the latter being far more common, affecting 90% of people. Aside from age, this form of degeneration can happen due to factors like family history, obesity, smoking, hypertension, a diet rich in saturated fats, and being white.

What people get wrong about this condition

These myths have many people confused about this eye disease:

   1. Myth: This disease leads to complete blindness

Vision loss happens with this illness as it worsens, but it only affects central vision. When this happens, people learn to use their peripheral vision more effectively to compensate as much as possible.

   2. Myth: You can know you have it immediately

AMD occurs gradually, in the case of the wet type, due to the growth of abnormal blood vessels, and in the dry type, because of an overabundance of drusen that builds up and dries. It’s impossible to find it right away, and in the early stages, your vision isn’t affected, making it more difficult to know there’s anything wrong.

   3. Myth: Diet never helps

A balanced diet is always essential for health, and while no single food will cure eye problems, consuming more antioxidants (such as vitamins A, C, and E) can help reduce drusen buildup.

   4. Myth: There’s no link between smoking and AMD

The damage nicotine does to your body affects just about every part of it, including your eyes. Smoking is a leading factor in developing AMD, and the tar from nicotine damages the delicate blood vessels your macula needs.

   5. Myth: Dry AMD is easier to treat than wet AMD

You don’t cure AMD as much as you manage it to slow down the progression of the problem. A combination of vitamins and minerals, known as AREDS and AREDS2 (which stands for Age-Related Eye Disease Studies), treats wet AMD. At the same time, the dry type utilizes anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) injections.

   6. Myth: Reading in dim light can lead to AMD

Dim light not only does not affect your eye health, but it also has no connection with either type of AMD. So read as much as you like.

Age-related macular degeneration causes vision loss over time, but you don’t go completely blind, and there are ways to preserve vision for as long as possible. Find out more by scheduling an appointment with Dr. Rapkin and the Retina Consultants of Muncie team today.