Trigger for most common form of vision loss discovered

In a major step forward in the battle against macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss among the elderly, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have discovered a critical trigger for the damaging inflammation that ultimately robs millions of their sight. The finding may allow doctors to halt the inflammation early on, potentially saving patients from blindness.

“Almost 200 million people in the world have macular degeneration. If macular degeneration were a country, it would be the eighth most populated nation in the world. That’s how large a problem this is,” said Jayakrishna Ambati, MD, vice chairman for research of UVA’s Department of Ophthalmology and the founding director of UVA’s Center for Advanced Vision Science. “For the first time, we know in macular degeneration what is one of the very first events that triggers the system to get alarmed and start, to use an anthropomorphic term, hyperventilating. This overdrive of inflammation is what ultimately damages cells, and so, potentially, we have a way of interfering very early in the process.”

Read more at article source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171127135802.htm