Vision QA

What is Macular Degeneration? What are the symptoms? Why does it occur? What are the treatments and precautions for this disease? Can it be cured? pls give as much details as possible... thx for ur help!

Macular degeneration is a disease that causes progressive damage to the macula. Macula is the central part of the retina that allows us to see fine details. When the macula degenerates, people experience blurring or darkness in the center of their vision and tasks such as reading and driving are affected. The words on a page may look blurred, a dark or empty area may appear in the center of vision, or straight lines may look distorted. The only environmental exposure clearly associated with macular degeneration is tobacco smoking. Advancing age and positive family history of macular degeneration are other risk factors. Macular degeneration cannot be cured with currently available treatments. The vision loss from macular degeneration can be slowed. High dose vitamins can help. Eating more green leafy vegetables, aerobic exercises, eating more fish and less red meat, eating any type of nuts can be of benefit in macular degeneration. Recently lucentis - a drug for wet macular degeneration has been approved by the FDA.