By Raj Maturi, MD as told to Rachel Reiff Ellis

Geographic atrophy (GA) is the loss of a thin but critical layer of cells in your retina. The retina is the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. Even though this layer of cells is very thin, it’s critical for vision. 

These cells line your rod and cone photoreceptors, which are the parts of your eye that help you see in low light, see sharply in brighter light, and see color. When you have GA, these cells waste away and die. 

Adapting to Vision Loss

Although you’ll keep your peripheral vision, the blind spot in your central visual field caused by GA can make day-to-day activities like driving, cooking, reading, and even recognizing faces difficult. Luckily, if you have low vision, there are rehabilitation services available.

Vision rehabilitation is different from eye examination and diagnosis of problems. A rehabilitation team focuses on helping you find ways to keep doing your daily activities even with vision loss. They take stock of what vision you have, as well as what you need to do each day. 

They can introduce you to tools to help you accomplish those tasks. Some of the most common low-vision tools include magnifiers, special glasses, electronic devices, and smartphone apps. 

The American Academy of Ophthalmology website provides information and tips for low-vision living. The devices that help you will depend on your specific needs. But in general, you want to adopt practices and adapt your home to increase contrast, reduce glare, and improve lighting overall. 

Your smartphone is a ready-made vision assistance tool, too. You can adjust the font to be larger on your screen, and make the contrast higher. You can use talk-to-text to send messages, and have your phone read texts aloud.

Some apps provide object identification and narrate the world around you when you point your phone or tablet toward it. Other apps connect you with real people who can help with daily tasks such as reading labels. AI is learning new ways to help people “see” better every day with tools like facial recognition that reads emotion for you.