How does a patient with age-related macular degeneration see?

The age-related macular degeneration usually concerns both eyes, although sometimes the disease may progress faster in one eye.

Initially, most patients do not realize that their vision has been affected, particularly if the disease affects one eye. The first symptom that the patient perceives, is a blurring or distortion of objects to which he directs his gaze. This is more noticeable with reading, where the patient complains that "some letters or words are missing" when reading a page of a book.

With progression of the disease simple everyday activities like driving, watching TV or even recognizing people across from us, become more difficult.

Generally, the attack of the macular does not affect peripheral vision. Indicatively, a patient with 'maculopathy' can see the outline of a clock clearly, but will not be able to distinguish the indicators or tell the time.
A simple test, which presents such distortions or deficits in our central vision, is performed with the "Amsler chart" (named after the Swiss ophthalmologist who designed them) and is also a simple and reliable method of self-examination.

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