Age-related macular degeneration, usually shortened to AMD, is the most common cause of central vision loss in adults over sixty. It affects the macula — a small area at the centre of the retina responsible for the sharp, detailed vision you use for reading, driving, and recognising faces.

The important thing to understand at the outset: AMD does not cause total blindness. Peripheral vision is not affected. But the central vision it does affect is the vision most people rely on most, which is why early detection and consistent monitoring matter so much.

Dry and wet macular degeneration

There are two forms, and the distinction determines everything about how it is managed.

Dry AMD accounts for roughly nine in ten cases. Small yellow deposits called drusen accumulate beneath the retina, and the light-sensing tissue of the macula gradually thins. It usually progresses slowly, over years. Many people with early dry AMD have no symptoms at all and would never know without an examination.

Wet AMD is less common but far more urgent. Abnormal blood vessels grow beneath the retina and leak fluid or blood, which can damage the macula quickly — sometimes over weeks rather than years. Dry AMD can convert to wet AMD, which is precisely why monitoring continues even when the dry form seems stable.

Wet AMD is treatable, and treatment works considerably better the sooner it starts.

Symptoms worth acting on

Straight lines that appear bent, wavy, or broken — door frames, window blinds, lines of text
A blurred, dim, or blank patch in the centre of your vision
Difficulty reading in normal light, or needing much brighter light than you used to
Colours appearing washed out
Trouble recognising faces at conversational distance

A sudden change in any of these is a reason to call us the same day, not at your next scheduled visit. Rapid distortion is one of the hallmarks of wet AMD, and the treatment window matters.

Who is at higher risk

Age is the dominant factor — risk rises steeply after sixty, which is why we recommend an annual comprehensive eye exam from that point. Beyond that, the significant contributors are smoking, which roughly doubles risk and is the single largest modifiable factor, family history, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, being of European descent, and long-term unprotected sun exposure. That last one is worth taking seriously here on the coast.

How we diagnose and monitor it

Diagnosis starts with a dilated examination of the retina, which lets us see drusen, pigment changes, and any bleeding or fluid directly. We compare findings against your previous visits, since the pattern of change over time tells us more than any single examination.

Monitoring is not a formality. Because dry AMD can convert to wet, and because early wet AMD is far more treatable than late wet AMD, we will want to see you on a schedule and we will ask you to monitor yourself between visits.

Monitoring your own vision at home

We will give you an Amsler grid — a simple square grid with a dot in the centre. Once a day, wearing your reading glasses, cover one eye and look at the central dot with the other, then repeat on the other side.

You are looking for lines that appear wavy, bent, blurred, or missing, or for any area that looks dark or empty. Because each eye compensates for the other, checking one eye at a time is essential; people frequently discover a substantial change in one eye only when they finally cover the good one.

If the grid changes, call us. Do not wait.

What we manage here, and when we refer

We want to be straightforward about this, because it affects what you should expect.

We diagnose, monitor, and manage macular degeneration. That includes examination and imaging, tracking progression over time, guidance on nutritional supplements where the evidence supports them, addressing the risk factors within your control, and coordinating your overall eye health — because AMD rarely arrives alone, and cataract and glaucoma need managing alongside it.

We do not perform surgical retina procedures. Wet AMD is typically treated with injections of anti-VEGF medication into the eye, and some cases require the involvement of a vitreoretinal surgeon. None of our three physicians is a retina subspecialist.

What that means in practice is that if you develop wet AMD, we identify it, we get you to a retina specialist promptly, and we continue to look after the rest of your eye care throughout. You are not handed off and forgotten — being the practice that catches it early and moves quickly is genuinely the most valuable thing we can do for you.

Living well with macular degeneration

A diagnosis is not the end of reading, driving, or independence for most people. Practical measures make a real difference: brighter, more direct task lighting; magnifiers and large-print materials; the accessibility settings already built into phones and tablets; high-contrast choices around the house. If vision loss progresses, low-vision rehabilitation services can help you adapt, and we can point you toward them.

If you smoke, stopping is the single most effective thing you can do for your eyes.

Macular Degeneration Diagnosis & Management in Bluffton & Hilton Head