Blood thinners ( anticoags) and wet macular degeneration

[Jill13]

I expect to have my first eye injection I. Two weeks and am dreading it. My question is that do any of you think beefing on apaxiban for AF ( a blood thinner) could have caused the bleed and not just my dry macular degeneration changing to wet. Has anyone had experience with blood thinners and wet macular degeneration?

[springcross]

Hi Jill. If you go to the Search Healthunlocked box in the top right-hand corner, you will be able to type the name of your medication (or blood thinners) into it (eg Apixaban and wet amd or blood thinners and wet amd) and it should give you previous posts on the same subject which you can compare with your own condition. You could also contact the Macular Society Helpline on the number below. Good luck. xx

Advice and Information Service 0300 3030 111

[Jill13 in reply to springcross]

Thank you, I will do that. I am in Australia so I guess that is a UK number butI will look up the Australian helpline

[springcross in reply to Jill13]

Yes sorry, I didn't realise you were on Oz. Good luck. x

[Retired130]

Hi. I have Wet MD in my right eye & dry MD in my left. I was on the blood thinner Pradaxa for years & am still taking it all through the 3 1/2 years of getting a shot for the eye with wet MD. I also am in 2 different parts of the USA for 6 months each, so I have 2 Retina specialist for the shot, one in PA & one in FL. Both have told me the Pradaxa blood thinner has nothing to do with the wet MD.

Both also told me the Pradaxa will not affect the shot or the recovery after the shot. However, I have discovered that on me, when I skip one Pradaxa before the shot & the next one after the shot, I seem to have less "balls" showing up, never get a bloodshot eye, & recovery time seems quicker, so I do that on my own. My cardiologist says that skipping the Pradaxa for 24 hours will not put me in danger & it is also OK to skip it for my dental cleaning twice a year. But Pradaxa has properties different from other blood thinners, so I suggest you contact the doctor prescribing the blood thinner to see what he/she says about it & if your condition allows you to skip a dose.

[Jill13 in reply to Retired130]

Thank you so much. That information is very helpful. I was thinking of not taking apaxiban for 24 hours before the shot. I have been allowed to do this before minor surgery such as a colonoscopy so will talk to my doctor.

[Atlas1522]

Hi Jill, I started Eliquis for AFib and four months later my dry AMD changed to wet in both eyes my doctors said there was no evidence that the Eliquis caused the bleeds but I wasn’t convinced so I got a Watchman implanted (I had to continue Eliquis for 3 months after procedure) and then stopped the blood thinners I continued getting Eylea injections for 3-4 years even though my eyes were dry after the first year of shots. I have now stopped getting the Eylea injections April 2022 in right eye and April 2023 in left eye, I continue to get checked every 3 months and so far all is good praying I stay dry. Hope this is helpful to you and good luck.