This is the commonest type, accounting for 90% of all cases of age related macular degeneration (AMD). Dry AMD tends to cause a slow gradual decline in visual function over many years. Initially people may have difficulty with fine detailed vision eg reading small print, even when wearing appropriate spectacles. In more significant cases the central vision becomes increasingly blurred, “patchy” and/or distorted. Advanced dry AMD often results in a dense central scotoma and although the peripheral vision remains unaffected the profound loss of central vision makes it is virtually impossible to recognise faces, watch TV etc.
