The Past, Present, and Future Perspective of Photodynamic Therapy for Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been approved as a therapeutic modality for the management of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). PDT can treat macular neovascularization with minimal effects on normal tissue, reducing lesion size and maintaining patients' visual acuity; consequently, it became the choice of intervention for nAMD around the year 2000. However, the visual outcomes of PDT are inferior to those of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy. Thus, PDT is no longer favored, except for the management of some specific phenotypes of nAMD (e.g., polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy and pachychoroid neovasculopathy) that are good candidates for PDT. Despite these circumstances, PDT remains an effective treatment modality for several retinal and choroidal diseases and should be considered for further use. This review summarizes the past and present positions of PDT in the field of ophthalmology and discusses the future perspectives on PDT.