How to treat macular degeneration

The incidence of macular disease is relatively high, and many people will be adversely affected by it, so the choice of treatment method must be careful. Laser therapy, transpupillary thermotherapy, and photodynamic therapy are all effective treatments.

1. Laser treatment: Use the heat energy generated by the laser to destroy abnormal new blood vessels in the macular area. Laser photocoagulation is only used to seal existing neovascularization and cannot prevent the formation of new neovascularization. It is a symptomatic treatment. At the same time, a slight overdose of laser can cause choroidal neovascularization and damage nearby normal tissues, which will have a significant impact on visual function and must be treated with caution.

2. Transpupillary thermotherapy (TTT): This method uses a near-infrared laser with a wavelength of 810nm. The radiation rate on the retina is 7.5W/cm2. It has strong penetrating power and low absorption by the refractive interstitium, which slowly raises the temperature of the target tissue by about 10°C. However, it is lower than the local temperature produced by traditional laser photocoagulation, acts non-specifically on CNV, and causes less damage to surrounding normal tissues. After treatment, thrombosis occurs within the CNV, and partial or complete CNV closure occurs, which promotes the absorption of bleeding and exudation, while relatively preserving a certain visual function. Therefore, TTT is suitable for the treatment of various CNVs, including occult and typical CNVs.

3. Photodynamic therapy (PDT): A specific photosensitizer is injected into the patient's blood. When the drug circulates to the retina, a 689nm laser is used to excite the photosensitizer, thereby destroying abnormal new blood vessels without damaging normal retinal tissue. Therefore, it is used to treat CNV in age-related macular degeneration, especially subfoveal CNV. This therapy is currently a convenient, safe and effective method internationally.

4. Surgical treatment: such as resection of subretinal neovascular membrane, macular transposition surgery, retinal transplantation, etc. It has brought hope for the treatment of this disease.

5. Ranibizumab combined with non-surgical therapy: By directly injecting Ranibizumab injection into the vitreous body in the eye, it is used to inhibit the growth of blood vessels in the eye and achieve the effect of reducing the continued decline of the macular degeneration. Since age-related macular degeneration is a long-term pathological process, the metabolites produced by its new blood vessels will block the "vitreous membrane" behind the retina, so that vital nutrients cannot enter the retina from the blood, and the excretion of waste will also be hindered, which will cause the death of retinal cells and ultimately lead to permanent blindness. Therefore, while inhibiting angiogenesis, existing metabolites must be cleared.