Photodynamic Therapy for Age-Related Macular Degeneration

What To Expect

The verteporfin medicine used in PDT makes your skin and eyes more sensitive to light. After treatment, avoid direct sunlight for 2 to 5 days. And when you have to be outdoors, wear dark sunglasses to protect your eyes.

Your doctor will want you to come back for a follow-up exam in about a month.

Why It Is Done

The main treatment for wet AMD is injections of anti-VEGF medicines into the eye. Photodynamic therapy is not usually recommended. But when anti-VEGF injections can't be used or don't work, photodynamic therapy is one option that may be recommended.

By limiting the growth of abnormal blood vessels under the macula, photodynamic therapy may help prevent the progression of wet AMD. It does not restore vision to eyes that have already been damaged. But it may help prevent further damage to the retina and further vision loss.

How Well It Works

PDT can lower the risk of severe vision loss by reducing the growth of and leakage from abnormal blood vessels under the retina. How well the treatment works depends on where and how the abnormal blood vessels are growing beneath the retina. For some types of wet AMD, the treatment has no detectable benefit.

The effect of PDT in slowing the progress of AMD is often temporary, and the abnormal blood vessels begin leaking again after about 3 months. Most people need multiple treatments to get the full benefits of the therapy.

Risks

A severe loss in visual clarity happens to some people who are treated with PDT. In some cases, vision partially recovers.

Other side effects that may occur with PDT include:

• Temporary visual disturbances (abnormal vision, decreased vision, defects in the visual field).
• Pain, swelling, bleeding, or inflammation at the site where the verteporfin medicine is injected. Some people also experience low back pain related to the injection of the medicine.
• Photosensitivity reactions (such as sunburn).