Let us wake the nation on the treatment for age-related macular degeneration.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To assess stakeholder perceptions of the quality of life associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

RECENT FINDINGS: Ophthalmologists underestimate patient quality of life associated with AMD by 96-750%, more so at the better end of the visual spectrum. Other physicians and the general population have essentially no appreciation for the great quality-of-life loss associated with severe AMD. They equate it with the quality of life associated with entities such as carpal tunnel syndrome and ureteral calculi.

SUMMARY: Ophthalmologists should educate colleagues and the general population about the severe quality-of-life loss associated with untreated AMD. There is gross under appreciation of the ravages of the disease, whereas the same can be said for vascular endothelial growth factor A therapy, one of the greatest advances across all of medicine in the past decade.