![]() | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Diseases of the macula are common and include a variety of many disorders. They are serious as they attack human in one of his serious spots disturbing the normal activity of any life. Thus, early detection of macular disease and follow up of disease progression are crucial especially with introduction of new treatment modalities. Diagnosis of macular diseases depends traditionally on biomicroscopy. Now, there are great advances in methods of investigations for the macula such as FFA, ICG, and OCT. Those sophisticated investigations are not without side effects and expensive. On the other hand, Amsler chart is a practical, inexpensive, portable test that easy to use by patients for detection and follow up of macular diseases. Amsler chart can exactly and precisely detect and localize qualitative defects such as distortion and scotomas in different macular diseases that may escape our ordinary methods of examining central visual acuity. This study was conducted on 75 eyes of 50 patients suspicious of having macular disease. 26 were females and 24 males. Amsler chart detected macular lesion in 51 eyes and predicted macular lesion in one patient. It excluded macular disease 15 patients (with a total accuracy of 88%). Amsler couldn’t detect macular disease in 9 patients compared to the diagnosis achieved by the confirmatory investigations (FFA, OCT, and HVF). Amsler grid testing corresponded with the results achieved by the confirmatory investigations on follow up evaluation. So, we can conclude that Amsler chart is a simple, inexpensive, accurate tool and of mass screening ability that easily and precisely detects different lesions. Amsler chart has the benefit of being subjective test that help the patient to find out and analyze the early symptoms of macular diseases that the early diagnosis of them is crucial in treatment. The performance of the examination under the orientation and observation of an examiner, with the asking of standard questions and constant observation of the fixation of the patient may have been responsible for the greater sensitivity of the method in the detection of macular diseases. |