Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about age-related macular degeneration. And if you want to follow along with written

notes on this topic, you can follow along at zero definals.com slash AMD or in the ophthalmology section of the zero to finals medicine book.

So let's get straight into it.

Age-related macular degeneration is a condition where there is degeneration in the macular

at the back of the eye that causes a progressive deterioration in vision. In the UK it's the most common

cause of blindness. A key finding associated with macular degeneration is Drusin, which is seen

on fundoscopy. There are two types, wet age-related macular degeneration and dry age-related macular degeneration. So wet and dry,

and about 90% of cases are dry and 10% of cases are wet. Wet age-related macular degeneration

carries a worse prognosis. Let's talk a bit about the macula. Now the macula is made of four key layers. At the

bottom there's the coroid layer, which contains blood vessels that provide the blood supply to the

macula. Above that layer is Brooks membrane, and above Brooks membrane, there is the retinal

pigment epithelium, and then above that there are the retinal pigment epithelium

and then above that there are the photoreceptors which sends the light.

Let's talk a bit about Drusin as these are a key feature of macular degeneration.

Drusen are yellow deposits of proteins and lipids

that appear between the retinal pigment epithelium and

Brooks membrane.

Some drusin in the macular can be normal, and normal drusin are small, usually less than

65 micrometers and hard.

Larger and greater numbers of drusin can be an early sign of macular

degeneration and they're common in both wet and dry AMD. Other features that are common in wet and dry

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