Medications

Anti-VEGF medicines, such as bevacizumab (Avastin) and ranibizumab (Lucentis), can slow the vision loss that is linked to wet AMD. These medicines are injected into the eye.

Surgery

Wet AMD. Surgery doesn't cure wet AMD, but it can sometimes slow down or prevent further loss of central vision. Early surgery is vital to slowing down vision loss, which can be rapid.

But surgery is an option for less than one-fourth of people who have wet AMD.⁶ It is often hard to know in advance whether laser surgery will do more harm than good.

By the time many people are diagnosed with wet AMD, it is often too late for surgery to provide much benefit. Even with treatment, many people will still go on to lose more of their central vision.

Dry AMD. Currently, surgery is not used to treat dry AMD. Laser surgery to remove deposits called drusen may slow vision loss in people with dry AMD, but experts think that it may increase the chance of developing wet AMD. Researchers are currently doing studies to see if this is an effective treatment.²

Surgery Choices

• Laser photocoagulation