drusen spots

Hi, I am a 28 year old female. I just went to the eye doctor for my routine check-up. They found drusen spots on my eyes and are referring me to a retina specialist. Macular degeneration runs pretty strong in my family. My dad has it and has lost a lot of his vision. Do you think it's possible I am starting to get macular degeneration at such a young age? My vision is 20/20 with contacts or glasses. Thank you for your help!!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Macular degeneration has been shown in the last 3-5 years to be hereditary 90% of the time and there are 3 identified genes that cause it. There is no test at this time available to see if you have any of the three genes.

There are different types of drusen: Hard drusen as small discreet and generally are felt NOT to be an early for of AMD. Soft drusen are large, irregular and overlap and ARE felt to be due to early AMD.

JCH MD

[jayurgi]

Thanks for the quick response. If it does turn out to be macular degeneration, is this something that will happen quickly or over time?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Generally over a long time, often an echo of what happened to your father (age, severity, etc).

You need to read about what you can do to reduce the risk of AMD developing:

Eat a good diet, fruits vegetables fibers, fish berries and nuts,  Cut out fatty foods and high calorie carbs. Eat lutein containing foods: spinach, leafy veggies, don't smoke, don't get fat, protect your eyes with hat and Uv blocking sunglasses and Uv blocker on your regular glasses if you wear them, do an Amsler grid test weekly, Consider taking an AREDS  anti-AMD supplement (don't require a RX) my favorite Preservision WITH LUTEIN (dose is 2/day plus a multivitamen) ask your GP about taking fish oil capsules 2-3 day. See an Eye MD annually and immediately with any sudden changes in vision.

Do some more research in our archives and with our search engine. Use GOOGLE IMAGES to see pictures of macular drusen

JCH MD

[jayurgi]

Thanks for the info! I'll keep you posted after I go to the retina specialist!!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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