Tag: Stargardt Disease

Posted in The Medical Stuff

How I can see distance better than seeing detailed close up.

Posted on by One Vision

So, simple explanation of why I see things differently.

Your whole eye isn’t just there, helping you see as one big mass on it’s own.

There is alot going on in there. Lots of different parts. There are different sections of your eyes, responsible for different parts of your vision ie… Colours, central vision, peripheral vision, brightness, light, focus, drainage of fluid, electrical pulse etc.

So, my condition affects the central vision. The Macula, which is the component responsible for clear central vision, situated within the retina.

The Macula and the parts within this itself. Are responsible for clear, detailed, close up central vision. Light detection and colours.

So this goes some ways to explain why my distance vision isn’t too bad, but I can’t make out close detail too quickly. If at all.

The part responsible for peripheral (the surrounding vision) is outside of my damaged Macula. I am having field tests (field of vision) at the moment to check on my peripheral vision.

Abit like on a car. Say my windscreen is cracked, but the rest of the car works fine.

If you would like a more detailed breakdown of the components of the eye please see click on the picture link to my post about this below.

Link to take you to detailed eye post within my blog
Posted in The Medical Stuff

Types of Macular Dystrophies

Posted on by One Vision
Cartoon woman with head on hands looks into camera with question marks above her head

Macular Dystrophies

Macular dystrophies are a large number of rare, inherited conditions that affect central vision. They can appear in childhood, but some are not diagnosed until later in life (late onset)

⚫ Macular Dystrophy symptoms

Juvenile macular dystrophies affect people in different ways. As your dystrophy progresses, your ability to see clearly will change. Everyone’s diminished eyesight is relative to themselves.

⚫ Macular Dystrophy diagnosis

Most people are diagnosed with a juvenile dystophy after visiting an optician who identifies a potential problem. They will be then referred to the nearest hospital eye centre or department.

⚫ Prognosis

As of yet. There is no treatment or cure but several bodies are working on it. If you do want to help with this, please see the Macular Society. I often share their posts and they really do need help with funding research.

⚫ Stargardt disease

Stargardt disease is a genetic condition caused by a tiny alteration in a single gene. The most common of these conditions. Uncommon to cause total blindness.

⚫Bestrophinopathies

This is a group of five related macular conditions caused by mistakes or mutations in a gene called BEST1. Some people never progress from the earliest stage of the disease 20/40 and will maintain 20/40 or better in both eyes.

⚫ Cone Dystrophy

There are various ways in which cone dystrophy is inherited but it is most commonly described as ‘sporadic’.

⚫ Doyne honeycombe dystrophy

Doyne honeycomb dystrophy is a dominant condition. It’s uncommon for it to cause total blindness.

⚫ Sorsby Fundus
dystrophy

Sorsby fundus dystrophy is extremely rare and not thought to cause total blindness.

⚫ Pattern dystrophy

Pattern dystrophy is a dominant macular dystrophy, usually occurring later in life. This is not thought to cause total blindness.

⚫ Bull’s eye maculopathy

Bull’s eye maculopathy describes a number of different conditions in which there is a ring of pale-looking damage around a darker area of the macula. This isn’t know to cause total blindness.

⚫Pseudoxanthoma elasticum

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum or ‘PXE’ is a disease that affects many parts of the eye. In some cases can cause blindness.

Now, whilst I’ve not had a genetic test to find out which gene is involved with my dystrophy yet, you will have noticed that I refer to Stargardt disease which is the most common of the Dystrophies.

They are testing me to find out why my peripheral vision is compromised, as it shouldn’t be with the diagnosis I first had in 2015.

About 1 in 10,000 people have an genetic eye dystrophy of some sort.