Dark Adaptation in Participants With Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Study Summary

Background: Macular degeneration can cause permanent loss of central vision. This vision is important for seeing details. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in people over 55 in the United States. Researchers want to follow people with AMD to study the early to middle stages of the disease. Objective: To follow for another 5 years participants who completed NIH study 11-EI-0147. Eligibility: Participant was enrolled in and completed study 11-EI-0147. Design: Participants will have at least 6 study visits over 5 years. Each visit takes about 5 hours. At visit 1, participants will be asked about their medical and eye disease history. They will have an eye exam. The exam will test vision, eye pressure, and eye movements. The pupil will be dilated with eye drops. Participants will have baseline exams. These include a health history and questions about problems that affect their eyes under different lighting. They will answer these questions each year. At each visit, participants will have some or all of these tests: Eye exam Dark adaptation protocol. This measures how fast the eyes recover when exposed to decreasing levels of light. The pupil will be dilated with eye drops. Participants will sit in front of a metal box with a camera inside. They will push a button when they see a light in the machine. View a bright background light for 5 minutes. After the light is turned off participants will push a button when a blue or red light is seen. Sit in the dark for about 30 minutes. Participants will push a button when they see a blue or red light.

Conditions Studied

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