Macular

Even The Man With No Name can change his mind, and a good thing too. Clint Eastwood told the world he was finished with acting after 2008's "Gran Torino," but "Trouble With the Curve" has lured him in front of the camera one more time. This amiable, old-fashioned film is no world-beater, but it underlines why, appearances with empty chairs excepted, it is always a pleasure to see this man on the screen. Eastwood plays Gus Lobel, a venerable scout for the Atlanta Braves baseball team who finds it increasingly difficult to mask the creeping ravages of age. Gus is a cantankerous coot who trips over furniture, has urinary problems and mutters "I don't need easier" whenever anyone makes the mistake of trying to help him out. It is not only the 82-year-old Eastwood's gift for making acting look relaxed and natural that stands out here, it is how unusual it is for Hollywood to place someone with more lines than the DMV front and center in a major motion picture.

Surgeons at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute say they have restored functional vision to several patients who were losing their sight to macular degeneration. The restoration was so dramatic in some cases that people could once again read and drive. The procedure does not work for everyone and is suitable only for people whose vision has just begun to fade.

The product: Eye supplements are a hot topic of conversation in Kerry Beebe's optometry office in Brainerd, Minn., right up there with the weather and Frances McDormand trivia. "We field questions about vitamins multiple times a day," says Beebe, chairman of the Clinical Care Group for the American Optometric Assn. Patients mainly want to know if vitamins can help save them from macular degeneration, the leading cause of severe vision loss in America.

Lowering some recently raised expectations, a new study has found that megadoses of vitamin E don't prevent macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in Americans older than 55.

Researchers have discovered the first effective treatment for age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people older than 50. Until now, there has been no effective therapy for the disorder, which affects at least 6 million Americans and causes visual impairment in nearly a third of them.

The loss of vision begins gradually, in the middle of the retina, so that only objects on the periphery are visible. Over time, this blind spot grows bigger, eroding the ability to read, drive and watch television. Eventually, sufferers can no longer make out sharp contrasts or vivid lines -- nor can they distinguish faces. Known as the wet form of macular degeneration, the condition is caused by the abnormal growth of blood vessels beneath the macula, or central portion of the retina.

A compounding company in Augusta, Ga., has recalled syringes of the cancer drug Avastin it supplied over five months to physicians treating vision problems after the Food and Drug Administration received word that five patients who received the compounded medication came down with eye infections that could leave them blind. The FDA announced the recall Thursday after regulators conducted a preliminary inspection of Clinical Specialties Compounding Pharmacy and found "practices at the site that raise concerns about a lack of sterility assurance.

Dismiss it as boring if you'd like, but "rabbit food" could be just what the doctor orders at your next ophthalmologist's visit. Eating the right vegetables, it now appears, may help to ward off some life-changing diseases such as cataracts and age-related macular degeneration, conditions you might otherwise come eye to eye with as you get older. Surprisingly, despite their reputation, carrots are probably not near the top of the list.

Scientists are harnessing light beams to fight one of the most insidious problems of aging, providing a ray of hope against a creeping blindness that steals vision from the center out. Age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, is the leading cause of blindness in people over 50. First, fine detail fades. Your crossword puzzle seems OK at a glance, until you try focusing on just one word. People's faces start to blur. You can't read or drive. Eventually, the worst form of AMD causes blindness.

Researchers have identified a gene that causes age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in the United States. Identification of the gene, reported today in the journal Science by researchers from Utah, Texas and Maryland, should eventually lead to the first treatments for the disorder, possibly including gene therapy, but it may produce more immediate benefits, experts said.