Macular degeneration is a common problem that affects vision. What exactly is the macula? What are the symptoms of macular degeneration? How to prevent macular degeneration? From the following information, you can learn about the causes of macular degeneration, symptoms of macular degeneration, treatment and preventive maintenance of macular degeneration, so that macular degeneration does not hijack your vision.

What is the macula?
When talking about macular degeneration (Macular Degeneration), let’s first understand what is the macula? The macula is an area on the retina of the eye. The retina is like the film of a camera in the eye, and the macula is the most sensitive area of ​​vision. It is used to track objects in the center of vision and plays an important role in visual field imaging. Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is a disease that occurs in the macular area. It is common in eye diseases over the age of 50 and is a common sight killer. The cause is usually aging eye function, caused by recession. Macular degeneration can be divided into dry macular degeneration and wet macular degeneration, which must be judged by physicians based on the different changes in macular pathology . However, modern people use 3C products for a long time, and under the condition of excessive eye stimulation, it leads to premature aging of the eyes, so it is common for young people to develop macular degeneration.

What causes macular degeneration?
Studies have analyzed factors that increase the risk of macular degeneration including age, smoking, and family inheritance. In addition, poor dietary habits, vitamin deficiency, cataract surgery, and ultraviolet light damage to the retina can increase the risk of macular degeneration  .

What are the symptoms of macular degeneration? Macular Degeneration Self-Assessment
Most of the severe patients have obvious visual symptoms, including distortion, faded color or dark shadows. However, in the early stage of macular degeneration, symptoms are hardly felt, and a closer examination with clinical optical examination instruments is necessary to make a correct diagnosis of the disease. The general public can have a basic understanding of macular degeneration based on conscious visual symptoms. The following symptoms are provided for you to understand .

1. Visual impairment
You will feel a rapid or gradual loss of vision. Acute is mostly a sharp decline in monocular vision, and progressive vision loss is a significant decline in vision over time.

2. Change of vision
The general visual field is divided into the central visual field and the peripheral visual field, and macular degeneration is mostly caused by the change of the central visual field. Changes in the central visual field include the patient’s ability to clearly see a well-defined circle, oval, or irregular dark spot on a white or light-colored background.

3. Abnormal color vision
The macular area contains many color-sensing cells – cones, so macular degeneration can cause patients to experience abnormal color perception.

In clinical practice, the Amsler Grid is also used to simply detect whether there is macular degeneration. The grid is placed 30 cm in front, and the center of monocular gaze is used. If you look at the square during the detection process, you will find that Straight lines appear wavy, or areas are blurred, and you need to be alert to macular degeneration . In addition to the above common symptoms, patients may also experience night blindness or visual hallucinations.

Treatment and timing of macular degeneration
At present, the treatment of macular degeneration is mainly to reduce the chance of severe visual impairment and prolong the available visual acuity as much as possible. Because the scars caused by macular degeneration are difficult to remove, reducing the persistent damage is the primary goal of prolonging vision. As medical care advances, so do the ways in which patients with macular degeneration are treated. The latest approach to macular degeneration is the use of intraocular injection of anti-angiogenic drugs to shrink abnormally proliferating blood vessels to achieve the goal of improving vision . The success of treatment is also related to the timing of treatment. The focus is on early treatment. The earlier the treatment, the greater the chance of vision recovery.

In addition to conventional medical treatment modalities, supplementation with antioxidants has been suggested in the clinical literature to assist in the prevention and treatment of macular degeneration . Antioxidant nutrients and minerals such as vitamin E, vitamin C, zinc, glutathione, and especially macular carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin are most favored in clinical research for prevention. Lutein and zeaxanthin are abundant in eye photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelium cells, which block and absorb blue light. In addition to improving visual function, they also play an antioxidant role to prevent damage to the macula from oxidative stress. . The human body cannot produce lutein and zeaxanthin on its own, so it needs to be taken through diet or supplements .

Postoperative care and maintenance of macular degeneration
The eyes are very sensitive and delicate organs. After macular degeneration surgery, it is necessary to follow the post-operative care recommended by the doctor in order to make the recovery faster and improve the success rate of the surgery. In basic nursing care, it is necessary to take eye drops on time, avoid rubbing the eyes with hands and prevent collisions, etc. If you need to wear eye masks, you should also pay attention to the disinfection and cleaning of eye masks to avoid infection. After surgery, it is necessary to avoid strenuous exercise or lifting heavy objects, and wear sunglasses when going out to reduce photophobia and blue light stimulation.

Prevention of macular degeneration is better than treatment, especially in reducing oxidative factors and increasing antioxidant capacity in the body. For example, smoking cessation is a very beneficial way to prevent macular degeneration. Supplementing antioxidant nutrients, especially lutein and Zeaxanthin is also very useful in preventing macular degeneration . In addition, dietary intake of green leafy vegetables and deep-sea fish can also help improve macular health, and maintaining regular exercise and a healthy weight can reduce the risk of macular degeneration.

People who regularly eat oranges are much less likely to develop macular degeneration

According to a 15-year study, eating oranges on a daily basis can reduce the risk of macular degeneration by up to 60%. The data collected by the researchers suggest that the positive effects are triggered by flavonoids in the fruit, chemicals that give fruits and vegetables their distinctive color and act as powerful antioxidants.

Flavonoids have been linked to anti-inflammatory effects of the immune system, but this is the first time they have been linked to macular eye disease. If you want a simple and healthy preventative remedy, consider oranges, the study suggests.

“Basically, we found that people who ate at least one orange a day had a lower risk of developing macular degeneration than people who never ate oranges,” says Bamini Gopinath, an epidemiologist at the University of Sydney in Australia, “even if they only ate oranges once a week. , also appears to have significant benefits.”

The researchers looked at the Blue Mountains Eye Study, a population-based study conducted in Australia in 1992. They selected 2,037 people over the age of 50, asked them about their eating habits, and followed them 15 years later. Those who regularly ate oranges were much less likely to develop macular degeneration over a 15-year period, and the flavonoids in oranges appear to be the key.

“We looked at common foods that contain flavonoids, such as tea, apples, red wine and oranges,” Gopinath said. “It’s worth noting that the data did not show a relationship between eye protection from disease and other types of food sources. .”

The macula is the part of the retina that handles everything related to central vision. As macular degeneration progresses, those with the disease progressively lose sight of what’s in front of them. While not completely blind, it can still make everyday life more difficult.

The exact cause of macular degeneration is unknown, but it is usually age-related. In most cases, this symptom appears around the age of 5 or 60. The number of people with macular degeneration varies from country to country. But in the US alone millions of people are affected by the disease, while in Australia 1 in 7 people over the age of 50 has macular degeneration. Those numbers are still rising.

While there is currently no cure, perhaps one day oranges will form the basis of preventive treatment. The new study did not definitively prove that oranges protect against macular degeneration, but a long follow-up of the fruit-eye association, as well as a large sample size, suggest that the link is fairly strong. Further research is needed to understand the underlying causes of macular degeneration and what biotic and abiotic causes lead to the disease.