Macular Degeneration

Wet macular degeneration occurs when a proliferation of blood vessels crowds out the light-sensitive cells in the center of the visual field of one or both eyes. It leads to blindness. Recently, medical injections into the eye are effective in preventing its progression. Dry macular degeneration occurs when there is an ever-diminishing blood supply to the light sensitive cells at the center of the retinae of one or both eyes. It leads slowly to blindness, and unfortunately there is no current remedy. Some people speculate whether headstand and other inverted poses might tend to replenish the blood supply, but currently that has not been tested. A first, cautious step might be to see if long-time head-standing people have a lower incidence of dry AMD than the general population. Animal models might be the next step. It is certainly not safe to try this out at this point, since we are dealing here with irreversible blindness.