Let us wake the nation on the treatment for age-related macular degeneration

To assess stakeholder perceptions of the quality of life associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Ophthalmologists underestimate patient quality of life associated with AMD by 96-750%, more so at the better end of the visual spectrum. Other physicians and the general population have essentially no appreciation for the great quality-of-life loss associated with severe AMD. They equate it with the quality of life associated with entities such as carpal tunnel syndrome and ureteral calculi.

Ophthalmologists should educate colleagues and the general population about the severe quality-of-life loss associated with untreated AMD. There is gross under appreciation of the ravages of the disease, whereas the same can be said for vascular endothelial growth factor A therapy, one of the greatest advances across all of medicine in the past decade.