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Treatments are available to slow the rate of vision decline or to stop further vision loss due to wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Photodynamic Therapy
Visudyne® is the first drug therapy approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration. Visudyne therapy can slow or even halt vision loss related to classic wet age-related macular degeneration. (Your doctor may call this type of degeneration  predominantly classic subfoveal choroidal neovascularization.) Visudyne therapy involves a two-step process requiring administration of both drug and light.
The first step is the intravenous infusion of Visudyne by your doctor. The second step is the activation of Visudyne with the light from a cool laser. The cool laser is designed to be gentle, so it won't burn or damage your eye.
You may need a full course of therapy involving multiple treatments in the first 2 or 3 years to halt disease progression.
The most common side effects were injection site reactions (extravasation [some of the drug may leak from the vein] and rashes), blurred vision, decreased visual acuity, and visual field defects.
Infusion-related transient back pain occurred with Visudyne in a few patients. Infusion induces temporary photosensitivity; exposure of skin and eyes to direct sunlight or bright indoor light should be avoided for 5 days.
Severe vision decrease (> 4 lines) was reported within 7 days in 1% to 5% of patients. Partial recovery occurs in some patients. Do not get re-treated until vision completely recovers to pretreatment levels and potential benefits and risks of subsequent treatment are carefully weighed.
For more information about Visudyne, go to our Visudyne product page on this site.
More information about age-related macular degeneration and Visudyne photodynamic therapy is available at the following Web sites:
Other Treatment Options
There are other drug and laser treatments available to treat wet AMD. For a complete list of treatment options, please talk with your healthcare professional.
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