PURPOSES: To evaluate the correlation between anatomical changes (hard druses, soft druses, hyperpigmentation, new vessels, detachment of retinal pigment epithelium, hypopigmentation and chorioretinal atrophy) and light sensitivity in patients with age-related macular degeneration (ARMD); analyze macular sensitivity in areas with no anatomical lesions in patients with ARMD and compared them to the control group in order to detect if there was any functional lesion in areas with no anatomical changes. METHODS: A cross-sectional, comparative, descriptive and analytic study was performed. The case group consisted of 31 subjects with ARMD aged between 51 and 88 years. The control group consisted of 31 "healthy" subjects, without ARMD aged between 61 and 80 years. The groups were matched for gender and age. We performed static macular perimetry, red-red, using a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO). Results of macular perimetry were correlated with the anatomic lesion identified in the same site by infrared laser and color photographs. RESULTS: Areas with new vessels or atrophy showed a significantly different sensitivity in relation to areas without anatomical lesions in patients with ARMD. There was significant functional loss in areas with no anatomical lesions in patients with ARMD in relation to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Areas with new vessels or atrophy could be distinct factors for worsening of the localized macular sensitivity. There might be functional loss even in areas with no apparent anatomical changes in ARMD patients.
Perimetry; Ophthalmoscopes; Macular degeneration; Choroidal neovascularization; Aging factors
