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Age-related macular degeneration

Degeneratio maculae luteae senilis · Věkem podmíněná makulární degenerace

What it is

Central vision fails while peripheral vision stays; the leading cause of blindness over 60.

Symptoms & signs

  • Blurred or distorted central vision
  • straight lines look wavy
  • dark patch in the centre
  • difficulty reading faces

🚩 Get help if…

  • see a doctor soon Straight lines suddenly look wavy or bent
  • see a doctor soon New dark or blank patch in the centre of vision
  • see a doctor soon Reading vision dropping fast over days

Where it strikes

Medical treatment

  • Anti-VEGF injections (aflibercept, ranibizumab) for wet AMD
  • AREDS2 supplements for intermediate dry AMD
  • complement inhibitors for geographic atrophy — slow lesion growth, no clear gain in vision
  • Port delivery system (Susvimo), a refillable ranibizumab implant — FDA-approved 2021, recalled in 2022, back in 2024; boxed warning for eye infection

Natural & lifestyle

  • Stop smoking (biggest modifiable factor)
  • leafy greens and oily fish
  • AREDS2 formula
  • UV protection
  • Amsler grid self-monitoring
  • blood-pressure control

Emerging & experimental

  • Gene therapy (single-injection anti-VEGF)
  • photoreceptor and RPE stem-cell transplants

Alternative, off-label & anecdotal

Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.

  • Photobiomodulation (red-light therapy, LumiThera) — approved in the US in 2024 for dry AMD after trials mixed evidence
  • Saffron — small trials improved retinal function early / small studies
  • Stem-cell clinics — people have been blinded by unregulated injections anecdotal / traditional

ICD codes