Patient's Feelings After Receiving a Diagnosis of Age-related Macular Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly population of the industrialized world. AMD is a progressive degenerative disease affecting the central area of the retina, responsible for distinct vision. Vision loss arises from aberrant new vessel growth which causes the accumulation of blood or fluid within the retina's thickness and eventually leads to permanent scarring. The two major forms of AMD are exudative, or neovascular or "wet", and non-exudative, or "dry".

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) represents the key modulator of the angiogenetic process and is involved in the pathophysiology of AMD. Anti VEGF therapies are used to treat wet-AMD.

After diagnosis and explanations of the practionner, the patients and their close relatives have still frequently many questions about the intravitreal injections, the prognosis, the risk of visual impairment, etc. Few teams have studied the modalities of diagnosis announcement and the understanding of the patients on the disease course.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the feelings after the AMD diagnosis announcement as well as the understanding of the possibilities of treatment and the clinical surveillance.