| Age Related Macular Disease (ARMD) is a disease | | | | disease. People with high blood pressure are more |
| that strikes people later on in life. Some people | | | | prone to it and overweight people tend to get it |
| are more prone to it than others and there are | | | | more often than thinner individuals. People who |
| some things that can be done to stop its | | | | have spent too much time in the sun over the |
| progression or even prevent it from occurring. It | | | | years have a greater chance of getting it. Diet |
| attacks the macula at the back of the eye and | | | | also contributes to the disease, especially for |
| causes deterioration of the retina. ARMD starts | | | | people who have eaten large amounts of fatty |
| out as when yellow spots, called drusen, start to | | | | foods during their life. |
| accumulate at the back of the eye. The more | | | | As people age, the disease tends to get worse. |
| serious form of the disease, wet ARMD, is | | | | Obesity and an inactive lifestyle also are factors |
| evident when abnormal blood cells in the retina | | | | that put a person more at risk. If ARMD runs in |
| start to leak. | | | | the family, the likelihood of getting it increases |
| There are certain factors that make a person | | | | dramatically. Scientists have found that certain |
| more prone to get ARMD. It strikes most people | | | | gene factors are likely to contribute to ARMD, |
| in their golden years, beginning somewhere around | | | | making it almost a certainty that twins and other |
| age 50. It also is more likely to strike people of | | | | multiples will share the disease as they get older if |
| the Caucasian race and women most often. | | | | they share these gene factors. Age Related |
| Some drugs may cause it to appear and there | | | | Macular Disease is a troublesome condition that |
| are genetic factors involved also. People with | | | | keeps growing year by year. It is expected to |
| light-colored eyes are also at risk for the disease. | | | | become even more prevalent as the baby |
| The lifestyles of people can also trigger ARMD. | | | | boomer generation enters its golden years. |
| Smokers have a high possibility of getting the | | | | |