Achromatopsia and Age Related Macular Degeneration - Essay Example

"Achromatopsia and Age-Related Macular Degeneration" is an engrossing example of a paper on ophthalmology.
What is Achromatopsia?

When a human eye does not utilize cone vision because of a lack of a number of efficiency of the cone photoreceptors exactly in the retina’s centre, and instead fully relies on the use of rod photoreceptors in the retina’s periphery to build the image, the person is said to suffer from a condition called Achromatopsia.  A person might acquire complete or partial Achromatopsia. In the former case, the sufferer is fully deprived of cone vision and has only rod vision, while in the latter, there is the partial utility of the cone vision.

Population affected:

Achromatopsia is an extremely rare vision disorder. This can be estimated from the fact that it occurs in as less as 1 in 33000 individuals in America. (achromat.org, n.d.).

Causes:

Achromatopsia is generally a hereditary disease that is caused by an abnormality in the number and/or performance of the retina’s photoreceptor cells.

Treatment:

Although there is no real remedy for the condition, yet ways have been identified to help the patient minimize the effects of colour blindness.

Effects of Achromatopsia on the sufferer’s quality of life:

It is often impossible for an Achromatopsia patient to distinguish between green and red. So he/she has a difficulty distinguishing between red and green of the traffic signals. Also, the Achromatopsia patient has photophobia. It so happens because the rod photoreceptors get saturated in bright light and hence, the patient can not bear the light. These factors adversely affect the sufferer’s quality of life.

Age-Related Macular Degeneration; Fact Sheet

What is Age-Related Macular Degeneration?

Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a visionary disorder that grows stronger with age. It declines the functionality of macula that forms the central part of the human eye retina. The macula is a tissue sensitive to light that helps the eye completely define the image by converting light into the electrical impulses that are sent to the brain for interpretation within a fraction of a second. Vision gets blurred as the individual gets more aged. The sufferer can not obtain a sharp and well-defined image.

Population affected:

A vast majority of people in their old-age gain AMD all over the world. A number of people suffering from AMD in America are as much as 1.75 million. (NEI, 2004).

Causes:

General awareness of the specific causes of AMD is very less and not much is known about the factors that lead to the development of AMD in old-age. However, it is believed that the disorder is genetically acquired.

 Treatment:

Although no such treatment is known that can remove the AMD completely, yet much can be done to keep the condition from deteriorating further. Contact lenses and spectacles are widely used to improve the sufferer’s reading and writing. Some people opt for the operation of the retina to improve the condition.

Effects of AMD on the sufferer’s quality of life:

AMD does not cause the patient any pain. However, deprivation of an ability to see clear details of an image might cause minor stress occasionally. People suffering from AMD have difficulty while reading and writing. Therefore, they must always be equipped with spectacles meant for the development of a sharp image.