What Is Wet Macular Degeneration?

Wet macular degeneration is the less common, more severe type of this age-related chronic disease of the eye. As in the other type, dry macular degeneration, it results in the loss of vision in the center of one's visual field. Unlike the "dry" form, it is marked by bleeding and the leaking of fluid from the eye. Because it is not painful, it usually goes undetected until it is in an advanced stage. However, early intervention can slow its progression and sometimes reverse its effects, improving vision.

The macula in focus

The retina, located in the back of the eyeball, is the part of the eye that contains photo-receptors, light-sensitive cells. These photo-receptors respond to light by firing nerve impulses that the brain translates into "vision." The macula is at the center of the retina and is responsible for detailed vision in the center of one's visual field. Wet macular degeneration only causes blindness in the part of the visual field controlled by the macula.

The mechanism

Right under the macula is the choriocapillaris, a layer of tiny capillaries that contributes to the eye's blood supply. As a person ages, they harden and eventually become extremely brittle by the time people with this disease reach the age of 50. Extracellular deposits form in the macula, blocking the center of one's visual field. In wet macular degeneration, new vessels grow to compensate for the ineffective, brittle capillaries. Their fragility results in the leaking of blood and fluid that characterizes this disease.

Wet macular degeneration is an age-related disease that results in the loss of vision of the center of one's visual field, the area controlled by the macula. It is marked by the leaking of blood and fluid from the eye, a direct result of its underlying mechanism.