Diagnosing AMD

Many individuals with early stage dry AMD will not experience any loss of vision and may not know dry AMD has begun to advance. As age related macular degeneration risks increase with age, your eye care professional may suspect AMD should changes in your vision occur.

Detecting AMD

Upon scheduling a comprehensive eye exam, your eye care specialist will perform various tests to diagnose AMD. These tests will include distance, retina exam, pressure inside the eye measurement, and possibly a fluorescein angiogram. (The fluorescein angiogram is used only in cases where your eye care professional may suspect signs of Advance or Wet AMD.)

Tests

Visual Acuity: The Visual Acuity test will measure how well you see objects or characters at various distances. A common and simple test, you will be asked to identify letters or objects one eye at a time. The objects, character, or letters may be moved in distance to gauge each eyes clear vision.

Dilated Eye Exam: Widening or dilating the pupil by using drops into the eye, your eye care specialist will examine your retina and optic nerve. With the assistance of special magnifying instruments, signs of AMD and other eye problems such as diabetic retinopathy or glaucoma may be determined. Following the dilated eye exam, you may expect your close‐up vision to be blurry for several hours.

Tonometry: The Tonometry test (or perhaps known as the IOP, intraocular pressure), will exam the pressure behind your eye. Various different methods of the Tonometry test exist to measure the pressure. Eye drops may be given to numb the surface of the eye before the exam. This test is preformed to identify eye diseases such as AMD, by exploring the nerve in the back of the eye known as the optic nerve.
In the event your eye care specialist suspects Wet (Advance) AMD, he or she may request a fluorescein angiogram. This test will require a unique dye to be injected into your hand or arm. As this dye passes through your blood vessels, pictures are taken to capture images behind your eye, allowing your eye care specialist to determine whether blood vessels behind the retina are leaking blood and fluid while providing pertinent guideline information for treatment.

Other tests may be preformed by your eye care professional to assist in determining the overall health of the eye and possible eye related diseases.