85 Hotham Street, St Kilda East, VIC 3183 | Car park entrance from Chusan Street

Macular Degeneration Experts Serving Brighton & Caulfield

Macular Degeneration

Macular degeneration is a condition affecting the central retina, causing progressive loss of central vision. Macular degeneration may be “dry” or “wet”. When there is an excess amount of a protein called VEGF in the eye it causes leaking and growth of new blood vessels inside the eye. As a consequence, rapid and severe vision loss can develop which becomes permanent if left untreated.

A depiction of the symptoms caused by macular degeneration and treated near Caulfield

Treatments

While there is no treatment for dry macular degeneration, there are several drugs that are antibodies to VEGF, called anti- VEGF, that can be injected into the eye when there is wet macular degeneration. These injections slow or stop the degeneration and often reverse the visual loss if treatment is started early.


The current anti – VEGF drugs used to treat wet macular degeneration are Lucentis, Eylea, Avastin and Beovu. Your ophthalmologist will choose the most appropriate drug for your treatment.


The treatment regime for macular degeneration begins with monthly injections for 3 months. Ongoing treatment is required to control the disease. Vision is tested and an OCT (retina) scan is performed at each visit to determine the frequency of injections required. The interval between injections can gradually be increased according to how your eye responds to the treatment.

NEED MORE INFORMATION? CALL US ON 03 9525 9455 TO SPEAK WITH ONE OF OUR EXPERTS.

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