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Australian Prescriber Vol. 25 No. 5 2002
Drug treatment of macular degeneration
As people get older their sight may get worse. Sometimes this is caused by a disease called macular degeneration. This disease can affect the cells at the back of the eye and may cause blindness.
In one type of macular degeneration, abnormal blood vessels grow over the back of the eye and block vision. A new treatment aims to get rid of these vessels.
The patient is injected with a special dye which travels in the blood to the eye. A laser beam is then aimed at the abnormal blood vessels. These vessels are destroyed when the dye reacts to the laser beam. As the dye makes people sensitive to light, they have to stay out of the sun for 48 hours.
This treatment slows down the loss of vision, but it does not restore sight. It is not suitable for all cases of macular degeneration.
