What is Wet AMD?

What happens when you have wet age-related macular degeneration, or wet AMD?

Wet AMD happens in your retina, the part of your eye that helps you see. Aging can damage your macula, the part of your retina that helps you see straight ahead and close-up details.

All wet AMD starts as dry AMD. Dry AMD happens when your macula gets thinner and a substance made of fats and proteins called drusen grows in your retina. As more drusen builds up, this weakens the back wall of your eye which allows new blood vessels to grow through. Wet AMD happens when these new blood vessels grow under your macula and leak blood or other fluid.

This can cause symptoms like: distorted vision, or lines that look curved or bent, blurry vision, especially up close or central vision loss, a dark or blurry spot in the center of your vision.

Wet AMD is serious, so call your eye care provider as soon as you notice symptoms. There is medicine to treat wet AMD early to help prevent vision loss.