Macular degeneration (AMD) was extremely rare before the 20th century, with fewer than 50 documented cases between 1851 and 1930.

“there were no more than about 50 cases of macular degeneration in all the world's literature between 1851 when when the retina was first visible because of the invention of the ophthalmoscope in 1930 1920 or 30. in in that roughly 80-year period there were no more than 50 cases of AMD in the all the world's literature and most all of those came in the 20th century there was just a handful of cases literally in the 19th century”