Age related macular degeneration is the leading cause of severe loss of visual acuity in the developed world. Epidemiological data published in the last 30 years are very alarming. They show that age related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in developed countries in the patient population older than 65 years. The signs of incipient disease can be diagnosed as early as in the patients older than 45 years. The disease is strictly age related and its prevalence and incidence are markedly increasing according to the older age. The basic risk factors of the disease are smoking, untreated hypertension, atherosclerosis, cataract surgery, and appearance of the disease in the family. Among other possible risk factors we count diabetes mellitus, and the light iris color. Equivocal is the negative effect of ultraviolet radiation.