Age-related macular degeneration is a degenerative disease of the central part of the retina and vasculature. It is the most common cause of the practical blindness of the developed country people over 65 years of age.
The disease occurs in two variants. At 80-90% there is a slowly developing "dry" atrophic form of age-related macular degeneration and about 10-20% develops a rapidly progressing "wet" exudative form with a neovascular choroidal membrane.
The sudden turn of the age-related macular degeneration into a wet form over five years is described in up to 26% of cases.