February is AMD and Low Vision Awareness Month. AMD stands for Age Related Macular Degeneration. Low Vision means that your eyesight cannot be corrected by eyeglasses or contacts. Eyesight is partial to almost total blindness. There are many causes for Low Vision.

Macular Degeneration is a chronic illness that may come about as we age. It can cause extremely poor vision even to the point of legal blindness. There are two types of AMD – wet and dry. Wet is the least common form but the type that causes the worst degree of vision loss. Treatment for wet AMD are the following:

• Laser Treatment
• Photodynamic Therapy
• Injections into the Eye – the medication injected stops the growth of blood vessels that cause the AMD
• Experimental Treatments – “…transplanting healthy cells into a diseased retina and inserting a ‘retinal chip’ to restore vision loss.” (From Florida Blind Services)

Dry AMD is treated with high levels of Zinc and antioxidants. Both types of AMD can come on suddenly and progress quickly or the complete opposite. There is no pain involved with AMD but there are some symptoms that should cause you to see your eye doctor immediately:

* Straight lines appear wavy
* Difficulty seeing at a distance
* Decreased ability to distinguish colors
* Inability to see details, such as faces or words in a book
* Dark or empty spots block the center of your vision

From the Health Alliance Plan

Although there is no known cause for AMD there are known risk factors – smoking, having AMD in one eye, being severely farsighted, hypertension (high blood pressure), lack of exercise, eating a poor diet and sun exposure for your eyes. You’re also at a higher risk to get AMD if you are a woman, are Caucasian, have family members with AMD and if you are over the age of 50.

Low Vision can be caused by glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, cataracts, eye injuries, and the side effects of some chronic illnesses including Lupus and Juvenile Rhuematoid Athritis among others as well as certain types of medications.

Eye exams are necessary for people over the age of 50 either every one or two years. For people with certain types of chronic illnesses or who are taking medications that can cause glaucoma or other eye diseases an evaluation is needed first. Then your eye care professional will determine how often you need to be seen.

Your eyesight is something to cherish and take care of. Knowing that you might lose partial sight can be an incentive to eating right, to stop smoking, to exercise, to getting regular eye exams, to keeping your eyes safe from the sun by wearing proper sunglasses, to keeping diabetes under control and to maintaining normal blood pressure readings.

Do you have AMD or low vision? Do you have any of the risk factors associated with either and are under the care of an eye care professional?