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Published on: 4/7/2025

What Are The Two Forms of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)?

Kenji Taylor

Family Medicine, Roots Community Health Center, Hippo Education, Kameda Medical Center

Supervised by Kenji Taylor, MD, MSc

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) comes in two forms: dry AMD and wet AMD. Dry AMD is the more common form and progresses slowly, while wet AMD is less common but can cause faster vision loss.

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Explanation

Age-related macular degeneration can be split into two main types:

  • Dry AMD:
  • Wet AMD:

Understanding the difference between these two types is important because their treatments and the way they affect your vision are not the same. Dry AMD usually gets worse over time in a milder way, while wet AMD often causes rapid vision changes that need treatments to help slow down the damage. Remember, this information is for education, and discussing any eye concerns with an eye care professional is important.

(References)

  • Thomas CJ, Mirza RG, Gill MK. Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Med Clin North Am. 2021 May;105(3):473-491. doi: 10.1016/j.mcna.2021.01.003. Epub 2021 Apr 2. PMID: 33926642.

  • Deng Y, Qiao L, Du M, Qu C, Wan L, Li J, Huang L. Age-related macular degeneration: Epidemiology, genetics, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and targeted therapy. _Genes Dis._ 2021 Feb 27;9(1):62-79. doi: 10.1016/j.gendis.2021.02.009. PMID: 35005108; PMCID: PMC8720701.

  • Pugazhendhi A, Hubbell M, Jairam P, Ambati B. Neovascular Macular Degeneration: A Review of Etiology, Risk Factors, and Recent Advances in Research and Therapy. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jan 25;22(3):1170. doi: 10.3390/ijms22031170. PMID: 33504013; PMCID: PMC7866170.

  • Fritsche LG, Igl W, Bailey JN, Grassmann F, Sengupta S et.al. A large genome-wide association study of age-related macular degeneration highlights contributions of rare and common variants. Nat Genet. 2016 Feb;48(2):134-43. doi: 10.1038/ng.3448. Epub 2015 Dec 21. PMID: 26691988; PMCID: PMC4745342.

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