When can I get back to normal life after AMD treatment?

When can I get back to normal life after AMD treatment? Treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration involves a small injection into the eye under a local anaesthetic. It takes seconds to deliver the treatment, and you can go home a few minutes after the treatment.

Immediately after injection, people can see a smoky pattern in their vision or “bubbles” or dark circles. These effects tend to settle down after a few minutes or hours. The eye can look bloodshot or bruised, and the redness can take several days to settle down.

Recently I came across this information sheet from the Macular Society which can be downloaded here. The information sheet contains information on what to expect after injection treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration. Even though the injection procedure itself may be pain-free, one of the biggest reasons for pain after injections is the use of iodine drops to clean and disinfect the eye before each injection.

These eye drops are very good at minimising the risk of sight-threatening infection after injections, but they can leave the eye dry and sore. Rarely, the iodine drops can cause a scratch on the cornea if the lining of the eye surface becomes loose. This can take several days to heal but is thankfully very rare.

After the AMD treatment

Once you get home the anaesthetic will wear off, and your eye may become slightly gritty, but I’ll give you drops to use after the procedure to make sure that we minimise any grittiness or soreness after the procedure. Even if there is some soreness that tends to last a day or two after the treatment, and people can get back to normal life in the afternoon if it’s a morning treatment or indeed in most cases the next day.

In fact, I had a patient who started playing golf the next day after the treatment and had no after effects at all. So it does vary from individual to individual, from treatment to treatment. But generally, within a day or so you can get back to normal.