The
macula or
macula lutea (from
Latin macula, "spot" +
lutea, "yellow") is an oval-shaped pigmented area near the center of the
retina of the
human eye. It has a diameter of around . The macula is subdivided into the umbo,
foveola, foveal avascular zone (FAZ),
fovea,
parafovea, and
perifovea areas. After death or
enucleation (removal of the eye) the macula appears yellow, a color that is not visible in the living eye except when viewed with light from which red has been filtered. The anatomical macula at is much larger than the clinical macula which, at , corresponds to the anatomical fovea. The clinical macula is seen when viewed from the pupil, as in ophthalmoscopy or retinal photography. The anatomical macula is defined
histologically in terms of having two or more layers of
ganglion cells.