Patients with peripheral vision loss may benefit from a rehabilitation program which combines low vision training with amorphic lenses in a bioptic configuration. As many as 100,000 individuals in the United States may be affected. Cone cells have their highest density in the center of the retina and are responsible for fine acuity and color vision. Rod cells are concentrated around the mid-peripheral retina and are responsible for night vision under unaided conditions. RP is characterized by a degeneration of the rods and cones as well as abnormal pigmentation.
Symptoms usually worsen with advancing age, often resulting in blindness.
Genetic screening may hold the best hope as a preventive measure for this otherwise untreatable disease. Recently it has been reported that most adult RP patients should take Vitamin A palmitate in 15,000 IU supplements under the supervision of an ophthalmologist. Identification of a sixth locus for autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa on chromosome 19. Berson, Rosner, Sandberg, Hayes, Nicholson, Weigel-DiFranco, and Willette, 1993. A randomized trial of vitamin A and vitamin E supplementation for retinitis pigmentosa.