[Kim Jaeho's Life Story]<235> How Should We Overcome Hwangbanbyeonseong?

Among the eye diseases that develop with age, there is a somewhat unfamiliar condition called macular degeneration. Compared to more common conditions like cataracts, glaucoma, or diabetic retinopathy (a complication of diabetes), the number of patients with macular degeneration was not very high, but it has increased rapidly in recent years. From 145,000 patients in 2016, the number exceeded 200,000 in 2019 and 2020.

In terms of the number of patients receiving treatment, glaucoma patients numbered 810,000 in 2016 and 970,000 in 2020, about five times more than those treated for macular degeneration. However, since more people go blind from macular degeneration than from glaucoma, it shows that the prognosis of macular degeneration is much worse than glaucoma when considering blindness as the criterion.

The macula is a neural tissue located at the center of the retina inside the eye, where most photoreceptor cells gather. It is the place where images of objects are formed and plays an important role in vision. Macular degeneration is a disease in which the function of the macula weakens, causing vision to deteriorate and, in severe cases, complete loss of vision. Since it mostly appears after the age of 60, it is often called age-related macular degeneration.

Macular degeneration is classified into dry and wet types, with dry accounting for more than 80%. When dry macular degeneration causes thinning of parts of the macula and the small yellow protein clumps called drusen grow larger and more numerous, vision may become blurry or distorted when reading a book. If the condition worsens, the light-sensitive cells of the macula thin and eventually die, creating a blind spot in the central visual field or causing loss of central vision.

Wet macular degeneration accounts for less than 20% and is not as common as dry macular degeneration, but its symptoms are much more severe. In wet macular degeneration, abnormal new blood vessels grow under the retina, and blood or other fluids leak from these vessels, damaging the macula. This causes rapid deterioration of vision, permanent loss of central vision, and leads to blindness. The speed of vision loss is much faster than in dry macular degeneration.

The prognosis for wet macular degeneration is very poor, resulting in a much higher frequency of blindness among people aged 65 and older. Dry macular degeneration causes a slow loss of central vision, so unless it reaches an advanced stage, most patients do not experience severe vision loss. However, caution is needed as it can progress to wet macular degeneration.

The exact cause of macular degeneration has not yet been identified, but aging and genetic factors, along with smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, saturated fats, and antioxidant deficiency are considered risk factors.

There is currently no cure for macular degeneration, so treatment focuses on maintaining vision or slowing vision loss. There is no treatment for dry macular degeneration, while wet macular degeneration is treated depending on the progression by using drugs that inhibit the formation of new blood vessels or block leakage, laser therapy to destroy abnormal vessels, and low vision aids to assist those who have lost vision.

Despite the limited effectiveness of macular degeneration treatments, the fortunate fact is that it is rare for both eyes to lose vision completely due to macular degeneration. One eye is usually normal or, even if the central vision is poor in one eye, peripheral vision can generally still be used. Although quality of life may decline somewhat, patients can still perform a certain level of normal daily activities.

Considering the known causes, treatments, and treatment effects of macular degeneration, the best way to overcome it is undoubtedly prevention. To prevent macular degeneration, attention must be paid to the best specialist prepared inside our body.

The best specialist prepared inside our body solves any eye problems by preventing the activation of harmful genes caused by our poor lifestyle habits. When these specialists fail to function properly, diseases like macular degeneration or glaucoma occur. If poor lifestyle habits are corrected, the best specialist starts working again, and the disease naturally improves.

Understanding how the best specialist inside our body works reveals that the methods to prevent and cure macular degeneration or glaucoma, as well as to boost immunity to prevent and cure COVID-19, are essentially the same. It is sufficient to abandon harmful lifestyle habits that damage genes or activate harmful genes and create an environment conducive to gene function, which is called Newstart (refer to Life Story Part 6).

First, a life diet involves eating a variety of plant-based foods including fruits, vegetables, and grains in their whole form without selective eating of specific foods. Along with this, it is important to reduce intake of sugar, processed or refined bad carbohydrates, saturated fats, trans fats, salt, and alcohol, which cause many problems when consumed excessively. Additionally, exercise, water, sunlight, moderation, air, rest, trust, and love should also be practiced.

Jaeho Kim, Independent Researcher