Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a chronic disease that affects the macula.  It is currently the third most important cause of blindness worldwide, and the fist in developed countries due to population ageing.

Anti-VEGF intravitreal injections have been a breakthrough, and are now a well-established method to treat AMD when it progresses to the neovascular, ‘wet’ stage. They can halt, or at least delay for many years, the progression to the later, atrophic stage of the disease. If properly administered, they can preserve and even improve sight.

Patients who directly and rapidly progress to atrophic AMD have no cure to rely on at present.  Research is working hard at finding it, and some potential options are in the pipeline.

This ‘Virtual Clinic’, hosted by Dr. Jordi Monés at the Institut de la Màcula in Barcelona, Spain, will give you thorough and detailed information on every aspect of AMD, from risk factors to pathogenesis, from diagnosis to prognosis and treatment.  You will follow the journey of two patients, one at the stage of wet and one at the stage of atrophic AMD, and also hear from them how they are living with their condition, how they cope, how they progress, what they hope for the future.  Dr. Monés himself, and his collaborators Dr. Lucia Lee Ferraro and Dr. Marc Biarnés, together with the paramedical staff of the clinic, will guide you through this interesting journey and will give you practical insights on how to improve outcomes.  You will look at AMD from a different perspective, where the chances of success are multiplied by proper management of the disease.