Vitreous and Retina

Soft Drusen

Multiple soft, confluent drusen
  • Considered to be a feature of AMD.
  • Their presence is associated with increased risk of the development of RPE abnormalities, geographic atrophy and choroidal neovascularization.

Clinical Features

  • Symptoms: may have decreased vision or metamorphopsia
  • Signs:
    • Defined as greater than 63µm in diameter
    • Vary in size and shape
    • Occasionally seen as confluent structures with indistinct margins

Fluorescein angiogram demonstrates

  • Early hyperfluorescence
  • Either fading of fluorescence or staining of diffuse drusen in the late phase depending on the phospholipid content
  • Pooling of dye within focal detachments of Bruch's membrane