Other less common types of macular degeneration, which are hereditary and can affect younger people, are Best's disease, Stargardt's disease, and Sorsby's disease. Collectively, these types are called juvenile macular degeneration. For definitions of each, see the MD Support Glossary . This means that an affected person will find it difficult or impossible to read, drive, or recognize faces. The peripheral vision, however, is left untouched, so a person with macular degeneration does not go totally blind.
Many affected people move about with no assistance at all and lead independent, productive lives.
The most successful of them have also learned to use a wide variety of visual aids such as magnifiers, closed circuit TV readers, special glasses, etc., all of which are readily available and can be found by contacting the sources listed on this web site. See the listings under Low Vision Aids on this site. Macular degeneration is the second leading cause of blindness in senior citizens. An estimated fifteen million people in the United States have it, and approximately two million new cases are diagnosed annually. There is a good amount of research being done to find a cure for this disease, and several surgical procedures and treatments are being studied.