What is Coats disease?

Coats disease, also known as exudative retinitis, is a very rare eye condition which affects the smaller blood vessels (capillaries) found in the retina – the light sensitive layer which lines the inside of your eye. Coats disease can make these blood vessels weak and also causes incorrect growth, which leads to fluid and blood being leaked under your retina. This means the cells of your retina can't work properly and this can cause your sight to be affected.

Coats disease affects males more than females. It’s usually diagnosed by the time a person is 20, but in most cases, it’s first detected in childhood before the age of 10. Adults can also be affected, and some people, often middle-aged males, can have a milder form of the condition.

For most people, Coats disease only affects one eye, so many with the condition will have good sight in their other eye. It is a condition which can get worse, affecting more of the retina over time, but it can also stop getting worse on its own. This means that the effect the condition has on someone’s sight will vary from person to person.

Coats disease only affects the health of the eye so people with the condition are otherwise generally healthy.

Further information can be found on RNIB's Coats disease webpage.

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