What is macular disease?

Macular disease is the biggest cause of sight loss in the UK and developed world. It affects people of all ages and nearly 1.5m people in the UK have macular disease.

The macula is a tiny area of the retina at the back of the eye, which is only about the size of the grain of rice. It is responsible for our central vision, most fine detail of what we see and a lot of our colour vision too.

If your macula becomes damaged, as it does in macular disease, then your vision may become blurred or distorted. Gradually, the photo receptors in the macula die and you lose all your central vision.

That means people with advanced macular disease struggle with every day tasks and cannot drive or read. They have difficulty seeing faces, and recognising friends and family becomes very difficult.

There are many forms of macular disease, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Other forms of macular disease affect much younger people, even children.