Guide · macular
Macular degeneration: what you can actually do this year
There are two kinds and they need opposite responses. The dry kind is slow, and there are things that slow it further. The wet kind is fast and treatable — if you act in days, not weeks.
The two kinds
The macula is the centre of the retina, the part that reads and recognises faces. Dry AMD is the slow one: deposits build up under the macula over years, and central vision gradually blurs. Most AMD is dry. Wet AMD is when abnormal blood vessels grow under the macula and leak — sight can drop in days. It’s treatable with injections at the hospital, and the treatment works best in the first weeks.
The warning sign
Straight lines that look bent or wavy — a door frame, the lines on a page — or a smudge in the centre of vision in one eye. That’s wet AMD until proven otherwise: ring the same day. We scan the macula with OCT and refer you to the hospital’s fast-track clinic. Cover one eye and look at a door frame once a week; if you have dry AMD we’ll give you a grid for the fridge.
What slows the dry kind
Not smoking — the single biggest thing. Eating leafy greens and oily fish. For people with intermediate dry AMD, a specific supplement formula (the AREDS2 combination — lutein, zeaxanthin, zinc, copper, vitamins C and E) has trial evidence for slowing progression; ordinary multivitamins don’t. We’ll tell you whether your scan puts you in the group it helps. Sunglasses outdoors.
The check that matters
The OCT scan sees the layers under the macula where the deposits and the fluid are, before either affects your sight. On every Gold and Platinum examination, £25 on an NHS test, and every year if you’re over sixty or have AMD in the family.
The short version
- Dry is slow; wet is fast and treatable in days
- Bent straight lines or a central smudge in one eye: same day
- No smoking, greens and fish, AREDS2 if your scan says so
- OCT scan every year over 60