9^th Global Ophthalmology Summit

Retina and retinal diseases

The retina is a thin layer of tissue on the inside back wall of your eye. It contains millions of light-sensitive cells and other nerve cells that receive and organize visual information. Your retina sends this information to your brain through your optic nerve, enabling you to see. Retinal degenerative disorders such as Age-related macular degeneration and Myopic macular degeneration affecting young and old from many cultures, races and ethnicities. The central area of the retina contains a high density of color-sensitive photoreceptor cells called cones which are responsible for color vision and hence any defect and alteration in the central area of the retina will lead to Color vision defects. On the other hand diseases like Diabetic retinopathy and Retinal tumors can also be responsible for the permanent vision loss if it is not treated on time. Historically, retinal disease has had a low priority in prevention of blindness programs in developing countries. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, it was thought that retinal disease was an uncommon cause of blindness in the developing world; secondly, that the results of treating retinal disease did not justify the effort and expense involved; and, thirdly, that the equipment required was too costly and unreliable for use in a developing country environment. Finally, there is a lack of skilled personnel with sub-specialty training in retinal disease. John Hopkins School of Medicine, UCSF School of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine and Mayo Medical School are the leading institutes associates with ophthalmology.