The Amsler grid test is one of the simplest and most effective methods for patients to monitor the health of their maculae. The Amsler grid is, in essence, a pattern of intersecting lines (identical to graph paper) with a black dot in the middle. The central black dot is used for fixation (a place for the eye to focus). With normal vision, all lines surrounding the black dot will look straight and evenly spaced, with no missing or odd-looking areas when fixating on the grid's central black dot. When disease is affecting the macula, as in macular degeneration, the lines can look bent, distorted and/or missing.
Read more about this topic: Macular Degeneration
Famous quotes containing the word test:
“It is commonly said ... that ridicule is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not just. I deny it. A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in certain words, by men of wit and humour, may, and often doth, become ridiculous, at least so far, that the truth is only remembered and repeated for the sake of the ridicule.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)