Figure 4.

Gross photographs and choroidal flat-mounts. Gross photos of posterior eyecups from an aged control and GA donors with retinas intact (A, C, E, G) and after retinal dissection (B, D, F, H). The control eye (A, B) is free of maculopathy, and no posterior pole drusen or RPE changes are observed. In GA eyes (C–H), large areas of RPE atrophy (arrowheads in D, F, H) are present in the macula of GA1 (C, D) and extending beyond macula to the major retinal arcades and peripapillary regions of GA2 (E, F) and GA3 (G, H). Drusen are seen beyond the border of atrophy in all GA eyes (arrows in D, F, H). UEA-stained choroidal flat-mount from a 100-year-old control eye (I) demonstrates a dense, uniform, and freely interanatomosing pattern of CC in the posterior pole. In GA eyes (J–L), severe CC dropout is evident in regions of RPE atrophy (arrowheads). In these areas, few capillaries remained viable and blood vessels were composed primarily of intermediate and large choroidal vessels. In GA2, CNV is present superiorly to macula near the border of CC dropout (arrow in K). Scale bars represent 1 mm in all panels. The asterisk shows the optic nerve head.