Drusen are extracellular deposits of lipids, lipofuscin and complement proteins that build up between the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and Bruch's membrane. Each deposit's volume follows a simple accumulation-vs-clearance balance:
dV/dt = k_dep − k_clear(age)·V
k_clear(age) = k_clear0 · exp(−(age−50)/30)
radius r = ( 3V / 4π )^(1/3)
k_dep is the rate debris is deposited by stressed photoreceptors/RPE; k_clear is how fast the RPE's phagocytic and complement-mediated pathways clear it away. Because clearance capacity decays exponentially with age, the same deposition rate produces faster net growth in an older simulated macula — matching the clinical observation that drusen enlarge with age even without a change in lifestyle risk factors.
- Nucleation — new microscopic deposits appear stochastically (a Poisson process) wherever local clearance falls behind deposition.
- Coalescence — when two deposits grow close enough to touch, they merge into one larger "soft" drusen with the combined volume, mirroring how discrete drusen become confluent in advancing dry AMD.
- AREDS size categories — clinically, drusen are graded by diameter: small (<63 μm), intermediate (63–125 μm), large (>125 μm). Large and confluent drusen are the strongest structural risk marker for progression to late AMD (geographic atrophy or neovascular AMD).
The bulging translucent sheet above the deposits represents the RPE monolayer, which is mechanically displaced upward as drusen accumulate beneath it — a real structural change visible on optical coherence tomography as RPE elevation over drusen.