Managing macular disease

Having previously organised events looking at glaucoma and diabetes, Haag Streit UK recently organised a day of lectures and workshops based upon macular disease and the latest technology available in imaging and assessing retinal disease.

The theme was introduced with an overview of retinal anatomy and its relation to disease from Bill Harvey (Optician clinical editor). Most common retinal lesions may be identified by their shape, colour, definition and a knowledge of their speed of presentation. Leakage from pre-capillary beds, as occurs with diabetes for example, results in either red cell collection or lipid precipitation from the plasma. These haemorrhages and exudates are restricted in their spread by the fact that they are present at the deeper layers of the retina (layers 5 and 6 typically) meaning that they adopt characteristic dot (or if bigger, blot) and discrete exudate appearances, well defined and distinct.