I've had 3 injections, spaced 4 weeks apart, for wet mg. How long do I have to take injections?

[Boboantho]

Wet Macular Degeneration Injections

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Everyone is different. At your next review they will tell you if you need more. May be one or three again then another review. It all depends what your eye is doing. The inj are to stabilise the condition. Some have just the first three, others a few or many more. Sometimes there can be long gaps in between.

You just have to learn to take it one day at a time.

Best of luck going forward.

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As eyesright already said, it varies from person to person and even from eye to eye. It all depends on the severity of your specific condition and how your eye/s respond to treatment. Your ophthalmologist will design a regime specifically for you, which may change in time as required. The AMD may well become stable for a while and the injections may be halted, but as a rule, sooner or later the leakage or bleeding will return and treatment will have to recommence as it is not a cure but just a stabilising of the condition. Stem cell treatment is in the pipeline, which promises a cure, but that may be some time away yet.

Best wishes

[Rosalyn-helpline Partner]

Dear Boboantho,

The function of the injections for wet AMD is to suppress the abnormal blood vessels, stabilise the eye, maintain vision and prevent further damage. Therefore, if the eye becomes stable for a period of time, due to the abnormal blood vessels being successfully suppressed, then there will be no function for the injections. However, it is possible that the wet AMD may become active again, in which case further injections would be needed. it is important to check an Amsler grid weekly during any periods of stability, in order to identify any sudden changes in vision which may indicate that another injection is needed.

Usually, an initial loading dose of 3 injections is given, once a month for 3 months, then the eye is reviewed. If further injections are required, then how far apart these are administered is then determined by whether the individual is receiving Lucentis, Eylea or Avastin injections. If the individual is having Eylea, then subsequent injections are 8 weeks apart for the first year, then the length between injections becomes clinically determined in the second year of treatment. If an individual is having Lucentis injections, then they will be placed on one of 3 treatment regimens. Which one will determine the length of time between subsequent injections.

I am copying a link to our Guide to AMD, Treatments and our Essential guide to wet AMD

macularsociety.org/sites/de...

macularsociety.org/sites/de...

macularsociety.org/sites/de...

Just to make you aware, we are currently offering free 6 month membership. This is a good way to keep up with current developments. Please ring us if you would like to benefit from this, or join via the following link:

macularsociety.org/6months

Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any further help. The Macular Society helpline is open 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday on 0300 3030 111.

Alternately, you can contact us via:

[e-mail]

Kind regards,

[mydaddy in reply to Rosalyn-helpline]

Wow! In these guides I have found much more info than all that I have researched put together. I am sooooo happy that I found your web site. Thank you so much to all of you at the Macular Society who work to help those of us with AMD. I am in the USA and have not found anything like this here. Is there a Macular Society in the USA?

[Rosalyn-helpline Partner in reply to mydaddy]

Dear mydaddy,

We do have international membership, but I am afraid that we do not have support groups in the US. However, we do have Skype groups:

macularsociety.org/local-su...

Kind regards,

Macular Society helpline

[mydaddy in reply to Rosalyn-helpline]

Thank you so much for replying.

[mydaddy]

PLEASE talk to your Doctor, not the nurses. If he won't talk write him a letter and explain how horrific this is. I had the same problem. Only I take Lucentis. With the next shot he gave me a numbing shot before the actual shot. I had no pain, not even discomfort! Nothing. They also changed the iodine to Chlorhexidine. No stinging, no pain. There are things that they can do. Hang in there. This will save your vision!