Macular dystrophies are a group of disorders characterized by bilateral progressive degeneration of the macular region of the fundus. Findings of ophthalmoscopy are often extremely similar between different types of macular dystrophies. In addition,ocular fundus findings do not necessarily remain typical but vary at different stages of the disease,and the degree of retinal visual dysfunction also varies at different stages. For these reasons,differentiation of macular dystrophies is difficult. It is efficient to classify macular dystrophies into the following three types: (1) the disease type in which the diagnosis is almost definite based on ophthalmoscopy findings and fluorescein fundus angiography findings; (2) the disease type in which a Bull’s eye (macular) lesion is present; and (3) the disease type in which an atrophic macular lesion is present, and conduct the differentiation process according to a chart designed to help the differentiation.
