When Eye Problems Involve Diseases of the Retina (1/2)

The retina is the sensorytissue" class="hjdict" word="tissue" target=_blank>tissue in the back part of the eye. It gathers light and captures images from the lens, much like film in a camera. The retina processes these images into signals that travel through the optic nerve to the brain. Diseases of the retina can cause vision loss over time.

A 30-year-old listener in Vietnam says he cannot see well and doctors have told him he has retinal degeneration. This is the loss or destruction of the sensory tissue of the retina. Trinh Phuong Bac says he first developed problems in his right eye when he was a child. He would like to know more about this disease.

Doctor Emily Chew is a deputy" class="hjdict" word="deputy" target=_blank>deputy division director at the National Eye Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health in the United States. She says it is true what doctors have told our listener: there is no cure for retinal degeneration. She says most cases are considered genetic.