[Macular degeneration related to age].

Age related macular degeneration (A.R.M.D.) is the first cause of registered blindness in the developed countries after the age of 50. The prevalence of the disease increases with age. Risk factors have been identified. The atrophic form of age related macular degeneration, the most frequent form, results in a moderate decrease in visual acuity. The neovascular form of A.R.M.D. is associated in natural history with a central scotoma within 2 years. The disease involves both eyes with time. Fluorescein angiography allows an accurate diagnosis in identifying the subretinal new-vessels, and their location. The efficiency of blue green argon photocoagulation has been demonstrated on visual acuity by randomised trials, when the new vessels extend at more than 200 microns from the center. For new-vessels closer to it, monochromatic wavelengths can achieve the destruction of the neovascularization. But, laser photocoagulation is not the treatment of the basic process of A.R.M.D.