A research team, including an Indian-origin boffin, has found that the most common - and under-diagnosed - genetic disease in humans just may be a cause of the worst form of macular degeneration.
Medical College of Georgia researchers are pursuing a link between hemochromatosis, which results in iron overload, and the wet form of macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people 60 and older.
Medical College of Georgia researchers are pursuing a link between hemochromatosis, which results in iron overload, and the wet form of macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people 60 and older.
They suspect that too much iron, known to wreak cumulative havoc on the body's organs, hastens normal aging of the eyes.
Dr. Julian Nussbaum, a retinal specialist who chairs the School of Medicine's Department of Ophthalmology and co-directs MCG's Vision Discovery Institute, said: "If this is a predisposing risk for macular degeneration, we have a very useful tool for screening patients. We can give patients information right off the bat that may help them."
Source: ANI
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