macular degeneration, macular, diagnosis Wrinkles – My Macular Degeneration Journey/Journal

Wrinkles

As I said before, now that I am officially one of the visually impaired, I seem to have acquired ‘clearing house’ status. I hear about people with all sorts of vision related stuff. Sometimes I pass it along. Recently I heard of a new -to me – wrinkle in macular problems. And I literally mean a new wrinkle!

A friend of a friend is upset because his vision is all wavy. He thought he was developing Macular Degeneration. He is of “of a certain age” and the symptoms are similar.

Turns out he has something called macular pucker. I had never heard of it so I looked it up.

Disclaimer one more time: I am not a doctor. Reading two web articles and watching a nine-minute YouTube video does not equal a medical education.

Consult your eye health professional for information and treatment if you believe there is anything – ANYTHING – funky about your vision.

Here goes. My two article and one video info:

The goop that is in your eye and keeps you eye plump and round is called the vitreous. As it gets older the vitreous liquefies and clumps. I think of it as what happens to a bowl of chocolate (I love chocolate!) pudding that was forgotten and overstayed its welcome in the back of the fridge. You know how parts of it get watery and parts get hard and it separates from the bowl? That is apparently what happens in your eye.

The clumpy parts can become floater. Mine looks like a mosquito larva. (And who said you would never use the stuff you learned in tenth grade biology?) Anyway, if I turn my head just right my ‘larva’ swims across my field of vision. Cheap entertainment.

Back on track. As the vitreous separates from the retina (think pudding receding from the side of the bowl) it sometimes sticks. If the vitreous sticks and pulls on the macula, scar tissue forms. The scar tissue may warp and contract. This can cause the macula to distort and you get the aforementioned wrinkle in your vision.

Macular pucker is not Macular Degeneration.

My sources said it is often in one eye only and generally the condition of the eye does not degenerate. If the damage is too great and interferes with daily functioning, a vitrectomy will often be helpful.

I did describe a vitrectomy before. Basically they suck all of the goop out of your eye and replace it with gases or oil or salt water. Getting the vitreous out of your eye stops it from pulling on the retina. That should stop the wrinkle from getting worse and it might even bounce back a bit.

Macular pucker. Hope that was educational.

Next: Coming soon!

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