Light-induced damage to the retina: current understanding of the mechanisms and unresolved questions: a symposium-in-print

Abstract

Light-induced injury to the retina resembles many features of several retinal degenerative diseases, particularly age-related macular degeneration. This Symposium-in-Print on Retinal Photodamage discusses the mechanisms involved and protective strategies to increase the retinal resistance to damage and/or to counteract its deleterious effects. Recent results help explaining the wavelength dependence of susceptibility of the retina to photodamage and different sites of the initial injury for shorter- and longer-wavelength light. Still, there are many unanswered questions pointing toward next directions in research so as to increase the understanding of the responses of the retina to photodamage and help to develop effective therapeutic approaches for retinal degenerations.