Injections: One option to slow the progression of wet AMD is to inject specific drugs into the eye. With wet AMD, abnormally high levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are secreted in your eyes. VEGF is a protein that promotes the growth of new abnormal blood vessels. Anti-VEGF injection therapy blocks this growth.

Medications used to treat wet macular degeneration include:

• Bevacizumab (Avastin)
• Ranibizumab (Lucentis)
• Aflibercept (Eylea)
• Brolucizumab-dbll (Beovu)

If you are a candidate for this treatment, you may need monthly injections. Although an injection to the eye sounds quite frightening it is usually very well tolerated by patients with very few if any complications. Most patients describe the experience as being less painful and unpleasant than they anticipated.

Possible risks of eye injections include conjunctival hemorrhage, eye pain, floaters, increased eye pressure, infection and eye inflammation. Some of these medications may increase the risk of a stroke.

If you have fears about injections to the eye, it is especially important to discuss this with your doctor.