ABSTRACT
Approximately 15 million Americans, and 100 million people worldwide, are suffering visual acuity loss from the debilitating effects of macular degeneration. Age-related Macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD) is the leading cause of legal blindness for people over the age of 55, affecting more Americans than cataracts and glaucoma combined (1-4). According to the Director of the National Eye Institute, AMD will “soon take on aspects of an epidemic” as baby boomers age and the over 80 age group continues to be the fastest growing segment of the population. Almost 5000 new AMD cases are diagnosed daily. Epidemiologists predict that by the end of this decade, there will be 30 million patients with AMD in the United States.
