New developments in retinal drusen

Abstract

Retinal drusen are an important manifestation of age-related maculopathy, and increase with ageing. Recent studies have shown that gentle laser photocoagulation can lead to resolution of soft drusen and may lessen the high risk of development of choroidal neovascularisation in these cases. Laser induced regression of retinal drusen appears to be a safe technique, but no long term results are yet available. Retinal drusen may also occur as a dominantly inherited disorder and current evidence suggests that these represent more than one disorder. Misclassification of retinal drusen as retinal exudates is an important cause of false positive referral in diabetic retinopathy screening programmes.