Discovery of new macula eye disease


The discovery which has been made in Iowa City could seem a little worrying; there are now even more inherited eye diseases which could affect the macula part of the retina. However, scientists seem unperturbed by the findings and only hopeful that they could help give a better insight into other common eye disorders.

Until this discovery, the macula was thought to be damaged through other retinal diseases like macular degeneration. When the macula is damaged it can severely affect the sufferer’s life as the macula is needed for high-resolution activities such as driving and reading. The leading author for the discovery, Dr. Mahajan, describes the condition as the cause of some abnormal blood vessels within the macula. These vessels are then liable to bleed which causes the swelling and scarring of the retina which in turn creates “black outs” or blurred vision within the sufferer.

Dr. Mahajan explains that the results are very rare, as scientists presumed they had found all of the inherited eye diseases that will affect this particular part of the retina. He also confesses that if one person went to the doctors with this disease the doctor would probably deem the condition macular degeneration. Fortunately, in this case doctors knew that something wasn’t quite right and investigated the entire family’s eyes. The research was then narrowed down to twenty people within the extended family who had visual problems but were not blind. Interestingly, within this one family several members had strabismus (a condition when the eyes fail to align) and some had central vision loss.

Since this discovery has been made, Dr. Mahajan explains that he hopes with the use of pictures taken of the affected eye they will be able to find more people who are suffering from the same condition. Equally, if they can find out what gene could be triggering the disease then cures could be found not only for this condition, but for other conditions that affect the macula.

15th December 2009 

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