Maculopathy: what it is, symptoms and treatments

Maculopathy, or even macular degeneration recognized by most for that feeling of "flying flies". Here are the symptoms and how to cure them.

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La maculopathy or also macular degeneration, is a disease that affects the central part of the retina, the so-called macula.





From the scientific name floaters, maculopathy is recognized by most for that feeling of "flying flies", That is because of those small dark spots (filiform or point-like movable bodies) that seem to float when looking at a white background or a clear sky and that move with the movement of the eye.

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Maculopathy: what is it

Floaters are basically gods visual disturbances - which can occur at any age (but especially in old age) and can also accompany us throughout life - characterized by the sensation of limited darkening of the visual field, as if point-like, cylindrical or irregularly shaped bodies were inserted between the eye and the object being observed.

Maculopathy: what it is, symptoms and treatments

Maculopathy is therefore characterized by one gradual loss of central vision, often of both eyes, which severely limits all visual function. However, it is difficult to achieve complete blindness, because it is scientifically proven that lateral vision is usually preserved at least until the terminal stages of the disease.

The most frequent form of maculopathy is the senile one, which stands out in shoal (the retina thins because the visual cells stop working and disappear) e humid, while other forms of maculopathy are:

  • maculopatia miopica
  • diabetic maculopathy
  • exudative maculopathy after retinal vein thrombosis
  • maculophane maculopathy or macular Pucker, characterized by the growth on the inner side of the retina of a small membrane that over time can cause a distorted vision of the images

If they are not the secondary effect of much more serious eye problems, the causes of floaters are generally attributable to age-related degeneration of the vitreous body, that is to the aging of the vitreous body or even to the presence of a high myopia (above about 5 diopters). Furthermore, official medicine also includes among the possible causes trauma to the head, the use of cortisone eye drops for a long time, dehydration due to the summer months or wrong diets or the presence of too high intraocular pressure.



Maculopathy: symptoms

Maculopathy is absolutely painless, also for this reason, in the first place the visual problem is often not even noticed because our body tends to make up for it with the good eye. The first symptoms typically are:

  • la distortions of the images, so much so that the objects appear deformed or shrunken
  • spots of central "no vision" for which observing, for example, a clock, you can see the outlines but not the indicated time

The "flying flies" vary in shape (such as cobwebs, circular or filamentous), in size (small dots or larger mobile spots) and in quantity (single or multiple) and they move when the eyes move.

Maculopathy: le cure

The first thing to do is typically the Amsler test to identify a possible metamorphopsia (ie the deformation, undulation or distortion of everything that is straight).

Maculopathy: what it is, symptoms and treatments

Currently there is no drug therapy that completely eliminates the discomfort, for which doctors in general focus on the adaptability of the patient's brain. Basically, since a visual image is given by the sum of the images perceived both with the right eye and with the left one, it is possible that over time the brain trains and gets used to eliminating the "opaque" points using the normal ones of the contralateral eye. In these cases, one should "just" ignore the opacities. It is not a far-fetched theory: it has been shown that if the patient continues to look for the opacities and fix them, he will surely continue to see them and suffer from disturbances.


The new technique

She is one of the studies for the treatment of maculopathy minimally invasive technique, defined vitrectomia 27 GAUGE, already used routinely in modern vitreoretinal surgery for pathologies such as vitreous haemorrhage, retinal detachment, diabetic retinopathy, venous thrombosis and macular holes.


The technique uses a very small probe whose diameter does not reach half a millimeter and which is based on 3 holes with a diameter of 0,4 mm, through which the vitreous is removed and any alterations of the retina are repaired using a laser. Experts recommend the intervention according to the case, for example in myopic subjects suffering from pathological degeneration of the vitreous with consequent tractions on the retina of their eye.

Germana Carillo

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