Distortion of vision (described by patients as ‘waviness’ or ‘unevenness’), usually noticed while reading, is a hall-mark of diseased central retina (the macula), typically due to wet or exudative age-related macular degeneration. Any ‘metamorphopsia’ (the medical term for distorted vision) can be self-checked by anyone with the help of Amsler Grid shown below.
HOW TO TEST YOURSELF?
» Get the Grid fully on your screen
» Wear your reading glasses
» Be at the normal reading distance
» Check one eye first, then the other
» Close the other eye with your palm
» Concentrate & fixate on the central dot
» Do not look anywhere else
1. Do you see all lines evenly?
2. Is the central red dot clearly seen?
3. Are the corners nice & straight?
4. Any waviness/bending of any line(s)?
5. Any differences in the square shapes?
6. Any black patches or ‘holes’ in the grid?
7. Any differences between your eyes?
For normal eye, the answers to the questions by the side of the grid would be:
YES for questions 1,2 & 3, and NO for questions 4,5,6 & 7.
If any of your answers is different , or if you see abnormalities like shown below
you need to see an ophthalmologist as early as possible.