Though there is no permanent cure for Macular Degeneration, some medications may actually assist in halting or slowing down the progress of the disease and loss of vision. While some of these medications are totally experimental, others have been found to be effective and have already been approved by the FDA.

The FDA approved a new type of medication called Macugen drug treatment, developed by Eyetech Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer, in 2004. In this procedure, intravitreous injection or injection into the eye is administered once every 6 weeks. The drug injected uses a therapeutic particle to attack a protein that causes the growth of abnormal blood vessels or choroidal neovascularizations (CNVs) under the Macula. The medication seems to be one of the most successful treatments for AMD so far.

In Visudyne drug medication, a procedure called Photodynamic therapy or PDT is used to halt or slow down the progress of vision loss and relatively painless in which a light-sensitizing drug called verteporfin (Visudyne) is injected into the bloodstream which settles in the CNV. Then when non-thermal light is directed at the macula, it activates the drug releasing substances that obstruct the growth of CNVs under the macula transforming them into a thin scar.

It is also known that high dose of antioxidant vitamins such as beta-carotene (vitamin A) and vitamins C and E, and zinc supplements slows down the progression of macular degeneration. Treatment with these antioxidants and zinc reduces the probability of developing advanced Macular Degeneration AMD and loss of vision.

There are also other experimental treatments, medications and clinical trials being conducted by researchers and investigators.

Macular Degeneration provides detailed information about macular degeneration, dry macular degeneration and more. Macular Degeneration is affiliated with Colored Contact Lenses.