Months later, doctors use a laser to zap leaky blood vessels and prevent future bleeding. After recovery, nearly half the patients who undergo this new surgery can read an eye chart well enough to pass a driver's test. In fact, what Weiss saw were spots from leaking blood vessels in the back of his eye. By the time they figured it out they were alarmed by the progression of the condition. There are risks involved with the new procedure, as with any retinal or general eye operation.
Patients risk hemorrhage, infection, and worse.
But inaction also poses great risk in a vast majority of cases. Darkness always closes in on the vision of patients who wait. Normally in this disease, almost nobody improves. De Juan and his colleagues at Wilmer are conducting a large clinical trial to determine whether orally administered vitamins and minerals will slow the onset or progression of AMD, and are studying other surgical techniques. A speedy decision to have the latest surgery reversed the downward course of Stanley Weiss' problem.