Juvenile-Onset Macular Degeneration and Allied Disorders

While age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of central vision loss among the elderly, many inherited diseases that present earlier in life share features of AMD. These diseases of juvenile-onset macular degeneration include Stargardt disease, Best disease, retinitis pigmentosa, X-linked retinoschisis, and other allied disorders. In particular, they can be accompanied by the appearance of drusen, geographic atrophy, macular hyperpigmentation, choroidal neovascularization, and disciform scarring just as in AMD, and often may be confused for the adult form of the disease. Diagnosis based on funduscopic findings alone can be challenging. However, the use of diagnostic studies such as electroretinography, electrooculography, optical coherence tomography, and fundus autofluorescence in conjunction with genetic testing can lead to an accurate diagnosis.