An Amsler grid is often used at home to monitor for visual distortion (bending of straight lines) which may signify the development of wet AMD. Patients that are smokers or recent ex-smokers should not take Betacarotene (one of the vitamins in the AREDS study) because of two studies which have shown a possible increased risk of lung cancer with higher doses of Betacarotene. Since high dose vitamins can cause systemic side effects or interfere with other conditions, your retinal specialist may recommend you discuss vitamin therapy with your primary care doctor prior to beginning the AREDS vitamins. These vitamins known as the Age Related Eye Disease Study or AREDS vitamins, do not improve vision in patients with dry AMD, but have been shown to decrease the risk of developing wet AMD in patients that are at high risk by up to 19%.
Patients with dry AMD, which is at high risk of becoming wet, are often treated with a specific set of high dose vitamins. Vision loss is due to a loss of sensitivity of the cells in the macula which may result in a slight decrease in vision and the need to have brighter light to read. Dry AMD usually leads to less visual difficulties than wet AMD.
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