Can My Mom Stop Her AMD Treatment Injections?
APR 14, 2014
Question:
My mom receives injections every four weeks for AMD (a breakdown of tissues in the back of the eye). Is this for the rest of her life? If she is doing well can the injections be every other month or every three months? She is 83 years old. She has been receiving these for almost a year and her vision has remained the same. She only has sight in one eye.
Answer:
Injections for wet AMD (an advanced form of macular degeneration marked by abnormal blood vessel growth in the back of the eye) have been a wonderful advance in our treatment for this disease.
As a result, we can stabilize vision in almost all instances and improve vision in about one third. Unfortunately, the treatment must be given by injection. There is no clear consensus about whether the frequency of the injections needs to remain at four weeks or whether the time between them can be extended.
A large number of retina specialists will slowly extend the time between injections, with the hope that this will not result in a relapse of the wet disease.
In some cases, patients can be weaned from the injections completely. However, with your mother only having sight in one eye, I would be very careful about being too quick to reduce the frequency of the injections.