1. Signs of Dry Macular Degeneration
Symptoms may gradually increase in severity over time. You may see a blind spot in the middle of your visual point of view as well as a precipitous drop in your capacity to identify faces, objects and words in that central POV. You may also notice a fogginess confounding your vision and a halo effect when you view certain colors at a certain brightness. Written words, computer screens and even people's faces can appear blurry, and you may find it difficult to adjust when you enter a room that's not well lit. Similarly, you may have difficulty driving late at night or during dusk. When work around the home or office, you may find that you end up using increasingly bright lights to help you see.
2. Indicators of Wet Macular Degeneration
As with dry macular degeneration, you may notice a quick loss of a vision in your central field as well as a blurry spot in your mid-range POV that won't go away. You may also experience vertigo from distortions in your visual field. A stoplight or car might look wavy, somehow distorted or closer/nearer to you than it actually is. With wet macular degeneration, visual problems can progress quickly. That said, you may not be keenly aware of the symptoms at first, since usually one eye develops weaknesses before the other, and the strong eye then compensates to pick up the slack. Only after both sides begin to get affected by the macular degeneration will you notice rapid deterioration in your lifestyle and ability to get around.
3. Charles Bonnet Syndrome
In certain instances, patients may hallucinate as a result of their macular degeneration. The hallucinations may stem from the kinds of visual distortions that afflict patients with wet macular degeneration. Since distorted faces may be part of the set of hallucinations, this syndrome can be quite unnerving. Your ophthalmologist can suggest medical treatments, surgeries and other therapies to help relieve some of the more disturbing aspects of Charles Bonnet syndrome.
