AYURVEDIC PERSPECTIVE ON AGE RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION W.S.R. TO VATAJA TIMIRA

The deterioration of vision in elderly people is a major health problem. Aging of the eye affects all structures of the eye. By the age of fifty, one in every three has some vision impairing eye disease. Currently, the rates of eye disease such as cataract, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma are highest in the older group. End stage (blinding) i.e. Age Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) occurs in about 1.7% of all individual aged over 50 years and in about 18% over 85 years. Even though numbers of treatement modalities are available in modern medicine, unfortunately the results of most of these have been disappointing. Clinical features of ARMD imitate Vataja Timira. Ayurveda has significant role to play in the treatment of ARMD in both dry and wet types. Ayurvedic herbal medicines prevent a deterioration of the retina as well as the optic nerve, and provide micronutrients to the macula which transmits the sensation of vision to the brain.