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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Mol Med. 2019 Nov 23;26(1):105–118. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2019.10.008

Figure 1. Disease-dependent Changes in Vision and Retinal Anatomy.

Figure 1.

Examples of vision (left panels) in patients with normal vision (A), with diabetic retinopathy (DR) (B), and with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (C). With normal vision an individual can easily recognize faces. DR causes visual blurring and black patches throughout the visual field. Vision loss with AMD includes distortion of horizontal and vertical lines (arrow) and a black spot (scotoma) in the central vision.

Schematic of the healthy eye (A) indicates structures associated with vision. Light passes through the cornea (C) and iris, and is focused by the lens on the back of the eye at the macula, a small, central retinal region responsible for high acuity central vision. Light is sensed by photoreceptors (PR) in the retina, and the signal is sent through the secondary neurons (bipolar, horizontal, and ganglion cells) to the optic nerve.

Clinical symptoms of DR (B) include hemorrhages, aneurysms (A), neovascularization (NV), and “cotton-wool” spots (CWS). Hemorrhaging from the inner retinal vessels (IV) of the neural retina is depicted.

AMD exists in a “dry” and “wet” form (C). The dry form is characterized by the presence of drusen, deposits of lipids and proteins that form between the RPE and Bruch’s membrane. Loss of RPE and photoreceptors (PR) occurs with advance dry AMD. In wet AMD, choroidal neovascularization (CNV), which is abnormal growth of blood vessels from the choroid into the retina, results in leakage of fluid that can cause rapid vision loss.