Article provides AMD overview.

The American Chronicle /EmPower Research (9/30, Ravikiran) provided an overview of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), including its causes, types, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatments. AMD is the "major cause of blindness in the elderly. Loss of vision in AMD is a result of degeneration of rods and cones in the macular region of the central retina, which is responsible for high acuity vision." The condition "can make it difficult or impossible to read or recognize faces, although enough peripheral vision remains to allow other activities of daily living." AMD "may be caused by a variety of factors," including "genetics, age, nutrition, smoking, and sunlight exposure." The condition "is classified as either wet (neovascular) or dry (non-neovascular)." Wet AMD "occurs when new vessels form to improve the blood supply to oxygen-deprived retinal tissue." These vessels, however, "break easily, causing bleeding and damage to surrounding tissue." Dry AMD, which is more common, "is caused by aging and thinning of the tissues of the macula," and is characterized by "loss of pigment in the retina," as well as drusen, which "are small, yellowish deposits that form within the layers of the retina."