Your ophthalmologist (Eye M.D.) will conduct a dilated eye examination to look at your retina. Patients with Stargardt disease have yellowish flecks in and under the macula that sometimes extend outward in a ring-like fashion. The flecks are deposit of lipofuscin, a fatty byproduct of normal cell activity. Lipofuscin builds up abnormally in patients with Stargardt disease.
Fluorescein angiography may be used to confirm the diagnosis. In this test, a dye is injected into your arm, which is then photographed as it circulates through the blood vessels in the retina. In patients with Stargardt disease, a characteristic dark area appears in the choroid, the layer of blood vessels and connective tissue between the sclera (the white of the eye) and the retina.
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