A device that beams light into the eyes can improve the sight of people with a leading form of vision loss, known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided Monday (Nov. 4).
AMD progressively damages the center of the retina, the light-detecting region at the back of the eye. Recent data suggests that this condition affects about 19.8 million Americans ages 40 and older. The disease comes in two forms — dry AMD and wet AMD — with the former being more common, making up about 70% to 90% of cases. Despite its commonality, though, there were no effective treatments for dry AMD.
