Avoiding Macular Degeneration
Many people, particularly as they get older, worry about getting macular degeneration. And it’s not surprising, with it being here in Australia a major cause of legal blindness, and at less severe levels than that, a major cause of impaired lifestyle, difficulty with reading, blurred vision. The vision loss in macular degeneration is annoying because it affects the vision that you most want to use – the straight-ahead, line-of-sight, right where you’re looking vision that you use to look at people’s faces, read from a book, watch TV or drive.
I spend time with people who already have vision loss, trying to help them out with magnifiers and visual aids, and while they can help a little, the look of struggle and frustration on so many faces says that they’d much rather just have their previous good vision back. The more people that can avoid degeneration of their macula, the better.
Recently there has been some good treatments become available that, for the wet type of macular degeneration, can often maintain or improve vision. But even then the treatments need to be repeatedly given, so the fear of vision loss can still hang over someone whose doctor is ‘very pleased’ with the way things are going. (Having said that, it’s far better than just a few years ago where there was very little that could be done.) In the more common, dry type, there are no mainstream treatments yet. Overall, prevention if possible is the way to go with this condition.
Some of the risk factors aren’t modifiable. You can’t change your genetics, or your age, which are two important risk factors.
But you can stop smoking, if you smoke, and that will be the single biggest thing you can do to reduce your risk of macular degeneration. (… and although they may not like it much at the time, if you can stop someone else smoking, that will also be the biggest thing you can do to reduce their risk of macular degeneration). Even if you (or they) have been a smoker for a long time, quitting reduces their risk, so it’s not too late to stop.
Other things you can do:
- UV protection: there is some link between UV light exposure and macular degeneration. Sunglasses, hat outdoors.
- Nutrition : Fats – people with lower overall fat intake have reduced risk. Of the fats you do eat, omega-3 fats (fish and some nuts) are better, and always choose less processed fats over highly-processed.
- Nutrition : Antioxidants – Vitamins A,C,E and zinc were tested in a large scale study and found to be beneficial in reducing the worsening of vision in people with moderate macular degeneration. Lutein and zeaxanthin, yellow pigments as you’d see in egg yolks and corn, and some of the dark leafy green vegetables like kale, are being tested in the next stage of the study.
- Nutrition: Overall – go for unprocessed foods, go for brightly coloured fruit and vegetables.
- Keep up regular eye examinations, especially as you get older, even if your vision feels fine. Ask ‘how’s my macula?’ at the end of the appointment, and make sure you get an answer.
- If you notice any sudden vision change, get it checked without delay.
