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Age and Ageing Advance Access originally published online on September 1, 2009
Age and Ageing 2009 38(6):648-654; doi:10.1093/ageing/afp136
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Review

Retinal drusen: harbingers of age, safe havens for trouble

M. A. Williams1,2, D. Craig1, P. Passmore1 and G. Silvestri2

1 Department of Geriatric Medicine, Whitla Medical Building, Queen's University of Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7BL, UK
2 Centre for Vision Science, Royal Hospitals Trust, Grosvenor Road, Belfast, BT12 6BA, UK

Address correspondence to: Michael Williams. Tel: (+44) 2890972153; Fax: (+44) 2890325839. Email: mikewilliams99{at}hotmail.com

Drusen are small focal extracellular deposits underneath the retina, visible ophthalmoscopically as yellow dots. The more hard drusen there are, the greater the risk of developing soft drusen and retinal pigmentary changes, which in turn increase the risk of developing advanced age-related macular degeneration. Much remains to be discovered about drusen. For the patient with drusen, basic advice on diet and smoking and maintenance of a high level of vigilance for visual changes is appropriate management.

Keywords: retinal drusen, macular degeneration, vision: ocular, elderly

Received 8 January 2009; accepted in revised form 21 May 2009.


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