Bill Harvey: The forgotten condition

There is no doubt that one of the most significant advances in eye care in recent decades has been the development of treatments for wet age-related macular degeneration. The condition was increasing in incidence as life expectancy increased and, with no treatment, wet AMD results in registrable severe sight impairment in most cases. If treated, not so.

Perhaps it is time to have another think about dry AMD. Though slowly progressive, and so less likely to lead to bilateral severe sight impairment before death, it is still a cause of significant sight loss and sufferers represent around 90% of the AMD population. Some of the tendency to underrate dry AMD as a disease (I have regularly heard students explain dry AMD to patients as ‘it’s just a normal ageing process, like going grey’) has been down to the lack of access to any treatment. Any research showing a positive impact of any type, such as the AREDS study, receives more attention than might otherwise be the case.