These burns cauterize the abnormal vessels, preventing them from bleeding and stopping their tendency to grow and cause more damage. At present, there is no cure for macular degeneration, although with successful laser treatment, patients often recover vision and may remain stable for months to years. Only patients with wet macular degeneration can benefit from laser treatment because the abnormal vessels which respond to the laser only occur in the wet form. In patients with the wet form, the location of the new vessels within the macula determines whether laser is likely to be helpful or not. If the abnormal vessels are situated well away from the fovea, however, the laser is usually used since the potential benefit to the central vision is higher and the risk of the laser is lower.
Laser treatment is often successful for carefully selected forms of wet macular degeneration.
However, it is common for recurrent growth of new vessels to occur after laser treatment. For this reason, multiple follow up visits are usually recommended for patients after laser treatment has been completed. If new vessels are found to begin to occur again, additional laser sessions may be necessary to keep the abnormal vessel growth controlled. The laser is a 'two-edged sword'. It is quite effective at destroying abnormal tissue but it is equally good at damaging normal tissue.