How many injections will I need for my AMD?

In this series of blogs posts, which are based on short interviews (Ed: embed the youtube clip under this paragraph), Medical Retinal Expert Jaheed Khan describes the different types of AMD; including:

• the dry and the wet,
• how they present,
• what they look like,
• how they differ, and
• how we can treat them.

In this short interview, Jaheed tells us what will happen when we have treatment by injections for age-related macular degeneration.
Jane Olver: Jaheed you have told us a little bit about injections into the eye with Lucentis and Eylea for age-related macular degeneration. How many injections on average to people have to have and are there any risks of these injections? Jaheed Khan: As we mentioned, the medicine that we inject into the eye does not last very long, so we have to repeat these injections at least in the short term. I tend to tell my patients that they will need at least monthly injections for a few months. On average, I look at 8-10 injections in the first year, but after the first year of treatment, we can reduce the frequency of injections to possibly 4 or maybe 6 depending on the response of the patient.
JO: Are there any risks with the injections? JK: Actually, it is a very safe procedure, and we do not use a particularly large. It is a very fine needle, and it does not hurt, and the risks that we worry about are an infection. The risk of infection inside the eye as a result of this treatment is quite low and treatable if we treated quickly. So, we do not tend to worry too much about that because the risk of that is quite low. We use sterile instruments, we use sterile techniques, and the procedure is very short.
JO: Is it followed by a course of antibiotic drops afterwards or any treatment afterwards?JK: We give preventative antibiotic drops after the injection for a few days. We ask our patients not to rub their eyes and things like that. We also ask our patients to be very vigilant of the symptoms of a serious infection. On the second or third day sometimes people, unfortunately, will develop a very painful eye and that is a very serious sign that I would encourage my patients to come and see me about.
JO: Thank you very much. In the next interview with  Medical Retinal Expert Jaheed Khan, we will talk more about the future crystal ball gazing for the treatment of AMD.