Amsler grid
A grid that shows wavy or missing areas in your central vision, an early sign of macular degeneration.
How to do it
- Wear your reading glasses if you use them, in good light.
- Hold your phone about 12 inches (30 cm) from your face, or sit about two feet from a computer screen.
- Cover your left eye and look only at the dot in the center. Without looking away from it, tap any squares where lines look wavy, blurred, bent or missing.
- Then do the same with your right eye covered.
Your result
Cover your left eye and look only at the dot. Tap any squares that look wavy, blurred, bent or missing.
Nothing you enter leaves this page unless you save your result.
What the research found
Macular degeneration damages the center of the retina, at the back of the eye, and is a leading cause of lost sight in older adults. Its wet form can be treated, so catching it early matters. Across studies of 903 patients, the Amsler grid caught 78% of people with macular degeneration and correctly cleared 97% of those without it. Most of those studies compared people already known to have it with healthy people, which makes a test look better than it is. So a normal grid doesn't replace an eye exam.
Studied in: 903 patients in studies pooled in a 2014 review.
- Faes L et al. Diagnostic accuracy of the Amsler grid and the preferential hyperacuity perimetry in the screening of patients with age-related macular degeneration: systematic review and meta-analysis. Eye. 2014;28(7):788-96. PubMed