Natural progression of age-related macular degeneration

We planned to study the natural progression of age-related macular degeneration, not treated by laser photocoagulation, in 3172 eyes of 1642 patients seen by us between 1969 and 1989. The results were available in 1576 eyes of 811 patients followed for six to 180 months (median, 24 months). We came to the following conclusions: nonexudative lesions were more frequent (67%) and the incidence of exudative lesions increased in proportion to patient age and the duration of the disease, influencing the prognosis more adversely than do nonexudative ones.