| Macular degeneration is basically a breakdown of | | | | over whelmed and fail to do their job? The |
| the support tissue that maintains the macula. | | | | answer may be that the job is to stressful |
| It begins with eh accumulation of waste and lipid | | | | because the waste is too hard to pick up. |
| deposits that clog this support tissue, making it | | | | 2. The Cause of Macular Degenration could be |
| impossible to keep the macula's rods and cone | | | | Abnormal Waste Tips: |
| cells clean and supplied with adequate oxygen. | | | | In this scenario, the real culprit is damaged or |
| Without adequate oxygen, the rods and cones | | | | abnormal waste. Rod and cone cells have |
| eventually asphyxiate. In wet macular | | | | disposable lipid (fatty) tips. When they process |
| degeneration, abnormal, unstable blood vessels | | | | light and metabolize oxygen, the tips fall off as |
| grow thought the support tissue, probably in | | | | waste and new tips grow. Normally these tips are |
| response to the lack of oxygen. | | | | collected from the macula by the RPE - a layer of |
| Ironically, these vessels are prone to leaks, which | | | | tissue supporting the macula - and transported on |
| food the rods and cones with blood, asphyxiating | | | | a "conveyor belt" to waiting blood vessels. These |
| them even more quickly. | | | | vessels flush the waste tips in the bloodstream. |
| But why does this whole cycle of oxygen | | | | But abnormal waste tips lack the handles the RPE |
| deprivation from accumulated waste and lipids | | | | uses to identify them and drag them away, so |
| begin in the first place. There are tow prominent | | | | they sit around, taking up space and making it |
| theories that answer this question: | | | | difficult to the RPE to supply fresh oxygen |
| 1. The Cause of Macular Degeneration could be | | | | deliveries. The lack of oxygen kills first RPE cells |
| Poorly Functioning Blood Vessels: | | | | and then the rods and cones. Of course, if may |
| In this scenario, the blood vessels supplying the | | | | also trigger the growth of abnormal leaky blood |
| macula's support tissue do no pick up waste | | | | vessels. The question in this scenario becomes: |
| efficiently enough or deliver oxygen consistently | | | | What is casing the waste tips to be abnormal? |
| enough. As a result, the macula becomes clogged | | | | So which scenario is it? |
| with waste and lacks adequate oxygen. The lack | | | | We don't know yet what the cause of Macuar |
| of oxygen kills the support tissue cells and then | | | | Degeneration is: it may even be a combination of |
| the rod and cove cells of the macula itself. In the | | | | both. |
| case of wet AMD, new abnormal vessels grow in | | | | But either way, free radicals play a role. |
| a kind of misguided effort to supply more | | | | Understanding that role explains why age, |
| oxygen. As we know, these new vessels are | | | | smoking, blue or light colored eyes, a family |
| weak and prone to leaking, al all they actually wind | | | | history and our diets are all-risk factors -- and it |
| up doing is wreaking havoc. The question | | | | tells us what we can do to reduce our risk. |
| becomes: Why do the blood vessels become | | | | |