| The main causes of this blind spot are macular | | | | 3) Need for more contrast |
| degeneration, strokes, traumatic brain injuries and | | | | 4) Difficulty perceiving certain colors |
| disorders that affect the retina or the optic nerve. | | | | As a person's macular degeneration progresses |
| The most common cause of this blind spot is | | | | the central blind spot may become larger. |
| macular degeneration. The macula is a tiny spot in | | | | Having a blind spot in the center of your vision is |
| the back of the retina that is responsible for our | | | | very disabling and frustrating. This vision loss |
| central vision. As macular degeneration progresses | | | | greatly affects the independence of those who |
| the photoreceptor cells, especially the cone cells, | | | | have been diagnosed with this retinal disease. |
| often die because of problems with getting | | | | However, there are ways to adjust and adapt by |
| oxygen and nutrients to the cells and waste | | | | utilizing the peripheral or side vision that is still |
| products building up. | | | | there. You may never have heard of eccentric |
| The frustrating part of macular degeneration is | | | | viewing before, but it is simply a name given to a |
| that the peripheral vision remains fine, while the | | | | new way of looking at things. Eccentric viewing is |
| more important central vision that we need for | | | | a technique that involves looking slightly away |
| daily living becomes impaired. There are different | | | | from an object in order to see it by using the |
| types of blind spots depending on where the | | | | peripheral vision instead of the straight ahead or |
| vision loss appears. With macular degeneration, it | | | | central vision. By using peripheral vision you are |
| is called a central scotoma. | | | | using the rod cells instead of the damaged cone |
| The symptoms of a central scotoma are: | | | | cells in the macula or fovea. |
| 1) A spot in the center of our vision that can be | | | | Although our cone cells are responsible for detailed |
| dark, very light, or blurred | | | | and color vision, the rod cells, with some training, |
| 2) Need for more light | | | | can adapt to help with these functions. |