Best’s disease, also known as Vitelliform Macular
Dystrophy, is the loss of central vision of the eyes and it is an inherited
form of macular degeneration. In this disease, the central part of the retina
known as macula, which is responsible for the fine visual and color perception,
gets affected. It causes problems with your central vision, but does not lead
to total loss of sight and is not painful.
During the initial stage, a bright
yellow color cyst gets formed under the retinal
pigment epithelium (RPE) beneath the macula. Despite its presence, the visual
acuity remains normal and the side vision usually remains unaffected.
In many people, who are suffer from Best’s disease,
the cyst breaks eventually and the fluid and yellow particles of the cyst gets
spread throughout the central part of the retina .i.e. macula, causing further vision
loss.
It is usually diagnosed during childhood or
adolescence. It causes changes at the back of the eye between the ages of 3 to
15. Sometimes a child may notice a change in their vision and then an eye test
confirms that they have retinal changes which could indicate Best disease.
However, even though someone who has Best disease may not develop vision
problems at an early age but later in life around the age of 40 these problems
can be seen.
This disease does not always affect the vision of
both the eyes equally. Many people retain the central vision in one eye.
Best’s disease is genetically passed through
families. It is hereditary in nature.Currently, there is no treatment for Best’s disease.
Researchers are still trying to understand the cause of this disease.
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