Wet AMD can be treated with laser surgery, photodynamic therapy, and injections into the eye. None of these treatments is a cure for wet AMD. Each treatment may slow the rate of vision decline or stop further vision loss, but the disease and loss of vision may progress despite treatment.

Laser surgery

This procedure uses a laser to destroy the fragile, leaky blood vessels. A high-energy beam of light is aimed directly onto the new blood vessels and destroys them, preventing further loss of vision. However, laser treatment also may destroy some surrounding healthy tissue and some vision. Only a small percentage of people with wet AMD can be treated with laser surgery. Laser surgery is more effective if the leaky blood vessels have developed away from the fovea, the central part of the macula. Laser surgery is performed in a doctor’s office or eye clinic.

The risk of new blood vessels developing after laser treatment is high. Repeated treatments may be necessary. In some cases, vision loss may progress despite repeated treatments.

Photodynamic therapy

A drug called verteporfin is injected into your arm. It travels throughout the body, including the new blood vessels in your eye. The drug tends to “stick” to the surface of new blood vessels. Next, a light is shined into your eye for about 90 seconds. The light activates the drug. The activated drug destroys the new blood vessels and leads to a slower rate of vision decline. Unlike laser surgery, this drug does not destroy surrounding healthy tissue. Because the drug is activated by light, you must avoid exposing your skin or eyes to direct sunlight or bright indoor light for five days after treatment. Photodynamic therapy is relatively painless. It takes about 20 minutes and can be performed in a doctor’s office.

Photodynamic therapy slows the rate of vision loss. It does not stop visionloss or restore vision in eyes already damaged by advanced AMD. Treatment results often are temporary. You may need to be treated again.

Injections

Wet AMD can now be treated with new drugs that are injected into the eye (anti-VEGF therapy). Abnormally high levels of a specific growth factor occur in eyes with wet AMD and promote the growth of abnormal new blood vessels. This drug treatment blocks the effects of the growth factor.

You will need multiple injections, usually given about six weeks apart. The eye is numbed before each injection. After the injection, you will remain in the doctor’s office for a while and your eye will be monitored. As with photodynamic therapy, the main benefit for patients treated with the drug is the slowing of vision loss from AMD.

Once dry AMD reaches the advanced stage, no form of treatment can prevent vision loss. However, treatment can delay and possibly prevent intermediate AMD from progressing to the advanced stage, in which vision loss occurs. The National Eye Institute’s Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) found that taking a specific high-dose formulation of antioxidants and zinc significantly reduces the risk of advanced AMD and its associated vision loss. Slowing AMD’s progression from the intermediate stage to the advanced stage will save the vision of some people.

Age-related macular degeneration usually occurs in people who are age 50 and older. As people get older, the risk increases. Other risk factors include the following:

• Smoking. Research shows that smoking increases the risk of AMD two-fold.
• Race. Caucasians are much more likely to get AMD than people of African descent.
• Family history. People with a family history of AMD are at higher risk.

Does lifestyle make a difference?

Some lifestyle choices, like smoking, are linked to AMD although it remains unknown if altering any of these would alter the impact of AMD on an individual. Nevertheless, the following choices may have an impact on AMD and certainly promote healthy living, including the following:

• Avoid smoking
• Exercise
• Maintain normal blood pressure and cholesterol level
• Eat a healthy diet rich in green, leafy vegetables and fish

Dry age-related macular degeneration type affects approximately 85-90% of individuals with AMD. Its cause is unknown, it tends to progress more slowly than the wet type, and there is not ”as of yet” an approved treatment or cure. In dry AMD, small white or yellowish deposits, called drusen, form on the retina, beneath the macula, causing it to deteriorate or degenerate over time.

Wet macular degeneration is a chronic eye disease that causes vision loss in the center of your field of vision. Wet macular degeneration is marked by swelling caused by leaking blood vessels that affect the macula which is in the center of the retina – the layer of tissue on the inside back wall of your eyeball.

Early detection and treatment of wet macular degeneration will help reduce the extent of vision loss and, in some instances, improve vision.