My mom was diagnosed with macular degeneration. I work in the optical field and thought that I was somewhat familiar with this disease. However, I was under the impression that it was age-related, and my mom's OD told her that it is not, but rather that she needs to be checked for diabetes and high blood pressure. I understand why he'd suggest being checked for these two things (since they can be underlying causes of AMD), but she is 62 years old and I'm not sure why it couldn't just be a result of age, combined with the fact that she's a white female and a life-long smoker (all of which I understood to also be risk factors).

Is it likely that there something more that he saw that led him to tell her it couldn't be age-related? He didn't seem to provide her with very much information, and so I'm trying to determine whether this indicates that it is very advanced. I know there are two forms (wet and dry) but he didn't tell her which she had or how quickly the disease might progress.

Thank you!!