Macula degeneration is in most cases an age related condition of the eye affecting the central part of your vision. It does not lead to complete blindness, but affects your central vision and detail is affected for everyday tasks such as reading, driving and recognising faces.

The cause of macula degeneration is a breakdown of the arrangement of light sensitive cells in the retinal pigment epithelium, which in turn leads to distorted vision and dark empty spots in the vision and faded colours.

There are two forms of macula degeneration, dry and wet.

Dry AMD (age related macula degeneration) is the more common form and many people will have no symptoms until more advanced. It progresses slowly over a number of years and there is no treatment offered for this. Most people manage with visual aids that help with lifestyle requirements and there are vitamins/ nutritional supplements that may help slow down the progression.

Wet AMD is the less common, but more severe form as this is caused by leaky small blood vessels beneath the retina growing inwards and leaking fluid into the retinal layers leading to quick loss of vision. There are commercially available intra-vitreal (within the eye) injections available to help stop these blood vessels growing and hence slow down and preserve vision loss if caught early enough.

Most common risk factors are advancing age, smokers are significantly more likely to develop the condition and having a family history puts you at higher risk.