macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration disease (AMD) affects 10-15 million people in the U.S., according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss—more than cataracts and glaucoma together—and affects more than 10 million people in the U.S., according to the American Macular Degeneration Foundation.

Macular degeneration is most commonly associated with aging. But when symptoms start to show up in children or young adults, it can raise a lot of questions.

As people age, most see an increase in fatty deposits all over their bodies. But did you know that some of these fatty deposits also end up in your eyes? Commonly known in the opthamology world as drusen, these fatty proteins (lipids) appear as yellow or white spots that accumulate under the retina. The retina is the part of the eye that triggers nerve impulses through the optic nerve to the brain, where a visual image is formed.

Vision loss is a major issue for Americans across the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), around 12 million Americans age 40 and older have some kind of vision impairment:

Blurred vision is the most common symptom of macular degeneration. It’s typically found in people over the age of 60 and more than 200,000 cases are diagnosed every year. It is the leading cause of vision loss among older people with a total of over 2 million diagnosed, a number expected to grow to over 5 million by 2050 as our population ages.