Selwyn paskowitz was driving six years ago when suddenly out of his left eye he saw roadside lamp poles freakishly warp. Less than a year later Paskowitz could no longer make out people's faces, and dusky blotches like something out of a Mark Rothko painting marred his central vision. "It was annoying," says the 65-year-old retired naval officer, a bit stoically. Paskowitz is one of nearly 9 million Americans suffering from age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, the leading cause of blindness in people over 50. Eight out of ten people with AMD have the milder, "dry" form of the disease, but that can develop into the more serious, "wet" form of AMD that accounts for 90% of the afflicted population's vision loss. AMD can distort and block central vision within days of its onset, or slowly darken the world over years. The television drama ER ran a purplish three-episode story with Bob Newhart playing a builder of architectural models who develops AMD, descends into depression and finally puts a gun to his head. While there is no cure, sufferers can still see well from the periphery and may be affected in only one eye.
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