Among nevoid causes of hypopigmentations; incontinentia pigmenti achromians (Hypomelanosis of Ito) is a neurocutaneous syndromes characterized by distinctive macular, linear or irregular whorls or swirls of Hypopigmentations. Unrelated to incontinentia pigmenti, the loss of pigment begins spon­taneously during infancy or early childhood and is of Particular importance because of the falt that m...

PURPOSE To study different aspects of macular function in eyes with early age-related macular degeneration (early AMD: drusen with or without retinal pigment epithelium alterations) and normal visual acuity, to obtain a complete evaluation of macular function impairment in early AMD and to study the relationship between macular function and the ophthalmoscopic signs of early AMD. METHODS Fort...

Supplementation with carotenoids is proposed to protect against age-related macular degeneration. There is, however, considerable variability in retinal macular pigment response, which may be due to underlying genetic variation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether genetic factors, which have been previously associated with cross-sectional macular pigment levels in the retina or s...

Estimates of the density spectrum of the macular pigment (Wyszecki G, Stiles WS. Color Science: Concepts and Methods, Quantitative Data and Formulas. 1st ed. New York: Wiley, 1967); (Vos JJ. Literature review of human macular absorption in the visible and its consequences for the cone receptor primaries. Institute for Perception. Soesterberg, The Netherlands, 1972) are partially based on the di...

BACKGROUND Several lines of evidence suggest that macular pigment may play a protective role against age-related macular degeneration, but the influence of age on macular pigment density levels remains unclear. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between age and the normal distribution of macular pigment optical density (MPOD) values surrounding the fovea. METHODS Consecut...

Macular pigment (MP) has been suggested to have a protective role in age-related macular degeneration by reducing the amount of oxidative stress on the retina. MP levels peak at the foveal center, where it is found predominantly in the receptor axon and inner plexiform layers of the retina. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between central retinal thickness and macul...

PURPOSE It has been shown that lutein and zeaxanthin accumulate in the macula where they enhance contrast sensitivity and may reduce the risk of progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Furthermore, omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) might further reduce this risk. However, controversy exists regarding whether PUFA may reduce the bioavailability of lute...

PURPOSE To understand the difference between macular and peripheral regions, tissue samples of human retina, retinal pigment epithelium, and Bruch's membrane/choroid were dissected and analyzed for lipid composition. METHOD To facilitate dissections and enhance the recovery of tissues, eyecups were prefixed for 1 hour in 10% formalin (pH 7). Lipids were extracted from 4-mm trephined punches o...

Newly Recognized Serous Macular Detachment in Retinal Vascular Disease Serous macular detachment has only recently been recognized to occur in a significant number of eyes with retinal vascular leakage, including diabetic macular edema,1,2 branch retinal vein occlusion,3–5 central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO),6 and hypotony maculopathy.7 These serous retinal detachments associated with retinal...

To the Editor: We congratulate Yao et al [1] on their valuable contribution to the area of nutritional supplementation to maximize visual performance. In brief, Yao et al conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of patients supplemented with 20mg of lutein daily versus placebo, and found that supplementation with 20 mg of lutein per day resulted in improvements in terms of...