Age-related macular degeneration: condition and treatment

What is age-related macular degeneration?

Age-related macular degeneration (also known as AMD) is a common condition that affects the macula ­– a small, but important, area right in the middle of the light-sensitive layer at the back of your eye, called the retina. It usually affects people over 65. There are two types of AMD ­– dry and wet – which can affect your vision in different ways.

What are the symptoms of age-related macular degeneration?

The macula is responsible for the detailed, central vision that helps you to read, recognise faces and drive. 

Symptoms of AMD include:

• Blurred vision

• Blind spots

• Visual distortion

• Loss of central vision

You won’t usually notice any changes to your side (peripheral) vision with this condition.

Dry AMD

The dry type of AMD is the more common of the two and affects how you can see fine detail. It happens quite slowly, so a lot of people don’t realise a change in vision, but you’ll tend to find it more difficult to read, watch the television, drive and use your computer.

Wet AMD

The wet type usually develops in people who’ve already had the dry type of AMD. People with wet AMD tend to experience a very sudden change in their central vision, typically only in one eye. If you ever have any strange symptoms, like straight lines looking wavy or blurry central vision (called visual distortion), it’s really important that you get in touch with an optometrist as soon as you can.

How AMD can affect your vision

How is age-related macular degeneration treated?

There isn’t currently any treatment for dry macular degeneration, but there might be some nutritional supplements that can help slow its progression (although the evidence for these is still unclear). There’s also lots of research going on looking into possible treatments for dry AMD.

Intravitreal Injections for wet AMD

Wet macular degeneration can be treated with a type of injection called anti-VEGF (anti-vascular endothelial growth factor). VEGF is responsible for developing healthy blood vessels in the body – but with wet AMD, there is too much of this substance, which causes the extra unhealthy, leaky bloody vessels to grow. These injections essentially stop the substance from developing, helping to stabilise and even improve vision.

We usually carry out these injections as a quick day procedure in our clinics and you’ll often need a few rounds on a regular basis. The eye is often a little gritty and red for around 24-48 hours after, but you typically won’t need any drops or other treatment between injections.

We’ll give you some pupil dilating drops during this procedure, so it’s important that you arrange for someone to take you to and from your appointments as you won’t be able to drive yourself.

What are the possible complications?

Most people respond really well to treatment – the decline in vision can be stopped in 90% of cases and about a third of people gain better vision because of anti-VEGF therapy.

Although the vast majority of patients experience no complications at all (less than 1:1000), some complications can occur. Our team will discuss these with you in detail at your appointment and will make sure you’re happy to go ahead with treatment.