How to Lower Risk of Wet Macular Degeneration

Wet macular degeneration accounts for roughly 10 percent of all macular degeneration cases. It is more treatable than dry macular degeneration but can effect your life more suddenly as symptoms occur relatively quickly giving you less time to cope with the changes. Despite risk factors that are uncontrollable such as age and genes there are a number of steps you can take to lower your risk of developing both wet macular degeneration and dry alike. This step-by-step guide will show you the simplest of those ways.

Instructions

• 1

  Lose excess body weight to lower your overall risk for developing wet macular degeneration. Excess body weight is actually one of the most significant controllable factors that can lower risk and prevalence of wet macular degeneration. Clinical research has shown that obesity can increase your risk for wet macular degeneration and other forms of sight loss by 50 percent. Lose those excess pounds to keep your risks under control.

• 2

  If you want to further lower risk factors for wet macular degeneration you should purchase zinc supplements from your local healthcare store or online retailer as they have been shown in medical research to lower risk for developing and worsening macular degeneration by more than 25 percent. If supplementing is not for you then skip this step and focus intently on step three.

• 3

  Change your shopping habits to include more foods which are rich in zinc such as many fortified breakfast cereals, shellfish, and seeds. As previously stated wet macular degeneration risks may be reduced by ingesting more zinc in your daily diet.

• 4

  Similarly increase the amount of foods in your diet that contain high levels of lutein and Zeaxanthin. These are found in many green leafy vegetables and have been found to decrease risk for blindness due to wet macular degeneration by up to 35 percent.

• 5

  Wet macular degeneration is caused by rupturing blood vessels that form in your eye. Improve your cardiovascular fitness level by making better lifestyle choices such as increasing your daily activity level and limiting or eliminating any smoking habits you may have. These poor lifestyle choices negate your efforts to lower risk factors for wet macular degeneration as they work to degrade your arterial health and result in more frequent or sever arterial ruptures in the eye. A healthy cardiovascular system will maintain your overall health and keep your risk factors for macular degeneration as low as possible.