Intravitreal injection for macular diseases
An intravitreal injection is an injection of a very small amount of medicine into the vitreous humor of the eye. From the outside in, the eye consists of the hard sclera, the choroid, the retina (the retina) and is filled with a watery jelly-like substance (the vitreous body).
Treatment
On the day itself, the eye is dripped with, among other things, anesthetic drops before the injection and then disinfected. An eyelid spreader is placed so that the eye remains open. The medicine is injected, you can then see a kind of flies. This is the injected medicine. Then an antibiotic ointment is put in the eye. Your eye is taped, you can remove the bandage yourself the next day. If necessary, you start dripping antibiotics yourself the next day. The injections take place in a series of three injections with approximately four weeks between the injections. After the last injection, an appointment is made for an OCT scan and a check-up with the ophthalmologist.
Diseases in which intravitreal injections are used
Intravitreal injections are used for certain forms of diabetic retinopathy (macular edema), age-related macular degeneration and some vascular occlusions.
Sometimes anti-inflammatory drugs (corticosteroids) but usually vascular growth inhibitors (“anti-VEGF” drugs such as Avastin, Lucentis and Eyelea) can be injected depending on the condition.
Complications
- Eye pressure increase: side effect of corticosteroids. This complication hardly occurs with vascular growth inhibitors;
- Infection: rare, if the eye becomes very red and you are averse to light, you should inform your doctor;
- Retinal detachment: rare
- Vitreous hemorrhage: rare
