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Test Your Vision
The key to AMD is an early diagnosis so that treatment and preventative measures can begin as early as possible.
An Amsler grid is a useful tool for monitoring your central visual field. It is an important way to detect early and sometimes subtle visual changes in a variety of macular diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema. It is also helpful in monitoring changes in vision once they have been detected.
The Amsler Grid consists of evenly spaced horizontal and vertical lines printed on black or white paper. A small dot is located in the center of the grid for fixation. While staring at the dot, the patient looks for wavy lines and missing areas of the grid.
The chart below is an example of the test used by eye doctors, however it does not replace a full eye exam. Please click on the box to the left for a free Amsler Grid magnet to be used at home.
Directions for using the Amsler grid:
- If you wear reading glasses, put them on for this test.
- Hold the test at a comfortable reading distance.
- Cover one of your eyes and look at the grid with the open eye.
- Keep your eye focused on the white dot at the center of the grid throughout the test.
- Without moving your eye from the center dot, notice the lines which make up the grid. All of the lines should be straight, and all of the squares should look the same. There shouldn’t be any blank, dark, or distorted areas on the grid.
- Call your eye doctor right away if you notice anything unusual or abnormal in your vision.
- Repeat using the same procedure to test your other eye.
Report any irregularity to your eye doctor immediately. You can mark areas of the chart that you're not seeing properly and bring it with you to your eye exam.
