Maculopathy
Encyclopedia
A maculopathy is any pathological condition of the macula
, an area at the centre of the retina
that is associated with highly sensitive, accurate vision.
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...
, an area at the centre of the retina
Retina
The vertebrate retina is a light-sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye. The optics of the eye create an image of the visual world on the retina, which serves much the same function as the film in a camera. Light striking the retina initiates a cascade of chemical and electrical...
that is associated with highly sensitive, accurate vision.
Examples Of Maculopathies
- Age-Related Macular Degeneration is a degenerative maculopathy associated with progressive sight loss. It is characterised by changes in pigmentation in the Retinal Pigment Epithelium, the appearance of drusenDrusenDrusen are tiny yellow or white accumulations of extracellular material that build up in Bruch's membrane of the eye. The presence of a few small drusen is normal with advancing age, and most people over 40 have some hard drusen...
on the retina of the eye and choroidal neovascularizationChoroidal neovascularizationChoroidal 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:...
. AMD has two forms; 'dry' or atrophic/non-exudative AMD, and 'wet' or exudative/neovascular AMD.
- Malattia Leventinese (or Doyne’s honeycomb retinal dystrophy) is another maculopathy with a similar pathology to wet AMD.
- Cellophane Maculopathy A fine glistening membrane forms over the macula, obscuring the vision.
See also
- EFEMP1EFEMP1EGF-containing fibulin-like extracellular matrix protein 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the EFEMP1 gene.-Further reading:...
- a gene thought to be involved with Malattia Leventinese - Robert Walter DoyneRobert Walter DoyneRobert Walter Doyne was a British ophthalmologist. He studied medicine in Oxford, Bristol and St. George's Hospital in London. In 1886 he founded the Oxford Eye Hospital, and in 1909 became the first president of the Oxford Ophthalmological Congress....
- the British Ophthalmologist after whom Malattia Leventinese is named - Age-Related Macular Degeneration
- Retinitis PigmentosaRetinitis pigmentosaRetinitis pigmentosa is a group of genetic eye conditions that leads to incurable blindness. In the progression of symptoms for RP, night blindness generally precedes tunnel vision by years or even decades. Many people with RP do not become legally blind until their 40s or 50s and retain some...
- Malattia Leventinese