Wet macular degeneration

[Inthetropics]

My mum is 62 and had dry macular degeneration which we've just found out has now become wet. She is waiting for the injections to be approved by her health plan (not in the UK). Does anyone know what to expect? Is this treatment usually succesful?

Just any information from people who have personal or professional experience with this would be great.

Feeling so sad that she is going through this... she is such a kind and loving person! And she loves to read.

Had the treatment twice, ten years apart. The first time I had six injections at monthly intervals. They were as successful as could be reasonably expected. Basically if I focus hard on a straight line at the centre of my vision, the line appears slightly crinkled but that's the only remaining problem.

The second was a single injection to address a secondary effect of another problem. Again, it worked fine.

From what my first consultant said, the important thing is to persist with the treatment until it is virtually certain that it has fully worked. If it stops prematurely, it can increase the chances of a subsequent relapse, which can then be much harder to treat. The days that the NHS is known for doing this.

P.S. The treatment isn't that bad. It can be done in a 'clean room' - better than an ordinary consulting room but nowhere near the standards of an operating theatre. The whole thing takes less than five minutes and is physically nothing more than a bit uncomfortable for a few seconds. Her eye will probably be a bit sore for up to 24 hours and bloodshot for a while longer, but that's all.

Thank you for answering, Sisyphus. It appears she'll have 3 injections but it can be more depending on the results. Did you get the injections right after being diagnosed or did it take a few weeks/months? And if you don't mind me asking, how is your eyesight today? Did you have the treatment on both eyes?

I went privately so for the first - something very like but not actually - wet AMD, I started quickly - a few weeks at most, but might have been quicker.

For the second, for which the root problem was an autoimmune problem, the very specialist consultant di it on the same morning that I first saw him.

Other than the wiggly straight lines that I mentioned above (only noticeable if I try very hard, and no impact day to day), my practical vision is perfectly adequate for someone who has always been quite short sighted and is now into middle age.

The problem I did have was that of double vision (vertical displacement). Apparently my brain was so used having good vision that even the unnoticed-in-practice impairment was enough for it to be constantly tweaking the muscles in my eyes to compensate, which caused relatively mild diplopia. It took some work to resolve that but I have had prisms applied to the lenses of my glasses that almost perfectly compensate. My vision is perfectly adequate for driving (confirmed by another specialist consultant and registered with the DVLA) but I do have an eye patch in the car just in case the diplopia goes haywire. I also have what that consultant termed 'bag of specs' syndrome - a pair of glasses for reading, one for laptops close up, one for computer monitors and one for everything else, but that's much more to do with the middle age than anything else.

So in short, all being well and maybe with a bit of work, your Mum's sight should be perfectly functional afterwards.

Best of luck to her.

It usually stabilises vision and some people get a bit of improvement.
Treatment needs to be done fairly quickly after it’s detected - it’s meant to be within 3-4 weeks at the moment in the U.K. but the sooner the better.