How fast does macular degeneration cause vision loss? my doctor would only say it happens slowly, but didn't really define slow. is it a couple of years, 10 years, more? i understand each person is different, but what's average?

Their : Their are different types of macular degeneration. The most aggressive kind, wet macular degeneration, can present with sudden changes in vision. The "slow" variety or dry macular degeneration can take many years to progress.

Unfortunately, : Unfortunately, there is no average. Some forms of mac degen never cause any significant damage at all. Your doctor should discuss the use of multivitamins with you, because a very large american study (the areds study) showed a benefit to certain specific combinations of nutritional supplements.

It : It depends on the type and the stage of macular degeneration. There is a dry type and a wet type. Dry type progress slowly and may never result in a vision loss. However the wet type progress much faster and often result in vision loss. Even with the wet type, there are aggressive type that progress faster with vision loss in couple years and mild type that may take 10 years or more. Also, the stage of your condition is important, if you are in an early stage then you have more time then patients who are in there late stage. I hope that helps.

Over many years: Macular degeneration is a slowly progressive condition. In the absence of "wei" disease, vision changes start as delayed recovery of vision from bright light, then needing more and moe light to see/read, and eventually progressive decline in visual acuity. For poor vision to develop from the earliest signs is usually decades. At any time, a patient can develop wet disease, needing treatment.