What are the risks of an injection into the eye?

Retinal specialists inject an ever increasing number of medicines into patient's eyes (Amphoterecin, Kenalog, Macugen, Avastin, Lucentis, etc). These various medications have been extremely helpful in the management of many diseases such as macular degeneration, diabetes, infections and retinal vein occlusions. Techniques and anaesthetic agents have improved dramatically over the years...making the procedure much less uncomfortable than most patients fear.

There however still do exist some risks...from the injection itself. The main risks are that of infection ("endophthalmitis"), bleeding into the vitreous cavity, retinal tears, retinal detachment, cataract or corneal abrasion. The vast majority of patients however experience only minimal discomfort at the time of the procedure...and mild swelling and redness for a day or two post-injection.