The Fuchs spot or sometimes Forster-Fuchs' retinal spot is a degeneration of the macula

Macula

The macula or macula lutea is an oval-shaped highly pigmented yellow spot near the center of the retina of the human eye. It has a diameter of around 5 mm and is often histologically defined as having two or more layers of ganglion cells...

 in case of high myopia

Myopia

Myopia , "shortsightedness" ) is a refractive defect of the eye in which collimated light produces image focus in front of the retina under conditions of accommodation. In simpler terms, myopia is a condition of the eye where the light that comes in does not directly focus on the retina but in...

. It is named after the two persons who first described it: Ernst Fuchs

Ernst Fuchs (doctor)

Ernst Fuchs was an Austrian ophthalmologist and physician best known for his contribution to description and identification of Fuchs heterochromic iridocyclitis in 1906, Fuchs's dystrophy, and his contributions in the field of ophthalmology including but not limited to Fuchs spot...

 who described a pigmented lesion in 1901 and Forster

Carl Friedrich Richard Förster

Carl Friedrich Richard Förster was a German ophthalmologist who was born in the town of Lissa . He received his medical doctorate in 1849, and for most of his career was associated with the University of Breslau...

 who described subretinal neovascularisation

Choroidal neovascularization

Choroidal neovascularization is the creation of new blood vessels in the choroid layer of the eye. This is a common symptom of the degenerative maculopathy wet AMD .-Causes:...

 in 1862. The size of the spots are proportionate to the severity of the pathological myopia.

Symptoms

First signs of a Fuchs spot are distorted sight of straight lines near the fovea

Fovea

The fovea centralis, also generally known as the fovea , is a part of the eye, located in the center of the macula region of the retina....

 which some days later turn to the typical well circumscribed patches after absorption of haemorrhage a pigmented scar remains. Like in macular degeneration

Macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration is a medical condition which usually affects older adults and results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field because of damage to the retina. It occurs in “dry” and “wet” forms. It is a major cause of blindness and visual impairment in older adults...

 central sight is affected. Atrophy

Atrophy

Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. Causes of atrophy include mutations , poor nourishment, poor circulation, loss of hormonal support, loss of nerve supply to the target organ, disuse or lack of exercise or disease intrinsic to the tissue itself...

 leads to the loss of two or more lines of the Snellen chart

Snellen chart

A Snellen chart is an eye chart used by eye care professionals and others to measure visual acuity. Snellen charts are named after the Dutch ophthalmologist Herman Snellen who developed the chart during 1862...

.