Macula

The macula (/ˈmakjʊlə/) or macula lutea is an oval-shaped pigmented area in the center of the retina of the human eye and in other animals. The macula in humans has a diameter of around 5.5 mm (0.22 in) and is subdivided into the umbo, foveola, foveal avascular zone, fovea, parafovea, and perifovea areas.

This article is about the macula of the eye. For other uses, see Macula (disambiguation).

Macula
The macula is the central part of the retina of the human eye, its center slightly shifted to the temporal side. (The location in the image is misleading: it looks as if the macula were far removed from the center which is not the case.) .
Details
Part ofRetina of human eye
SystemVisual system
Identifiers
Latinmacula lutea
MeSHD008266
TA98A15.2.04.021
TA26784
FMA58637
Anatomical terminology

The anatomical macula at a size of 5.5 mm (0.22 in) is much larger than the clinical macula which, at a size of 1.5 mm (0.059 in), corresponds to the anatomical fovea.

The macula is responsible for the central, high-resolution, color vision that is possible in good light; and this kind of vision is impaired if the macula is damaged, for example in macular degeneration. The clinical macula is seen when viewed from the pupil, as in ophthalmoscopy or retinal photography.

The term macula lutea comes from Latin macula, "spot", and lutea, "yellow".

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