Intravitreal injection involves injecting medications directly into the eye for the management of retinal diseases. The most common diseases treated by intravitreal injection include age-related macular degeneration (AMD), macular oedema, diabetic retinopathy and retinal vein occlusion.
Intravitreal injection procedure is performed by an ophthalmologist in the doctor’s office. Anaesthetic eye drops are used to numb the eye before the procedure. Your eye and eyelids will also be cleaned with an antiseptic solution. Then your doctor will inject the medicine directly into the eye. Although intravitreal injections are able to improve vision, they must be injected as frequently as every month to achieve the best results.
After the injection into your eye you may have pain or itching in the eye, bleeding over the white of the eye (conjunctival haemorrhage), spots or dark strings floating in your vision (floaters), increased pressure within the eye and inflammation of the eye. These side effects usually resolve with time. Rare side effects include infection, bleeding within the eye, damage to the retina (retinal detachment or tear) and cataract (clouding of the lens).
