Recently, alternative therapies to laser photocoagulation and photodynamic therapy have been proposed for the management of CNV and are intended to increase the chance of stabilizing or improving vision at a greater rate than with observation. The most promising of these alternatives at this time is surgical removal of the neovascular lesion, i.e., submacular surgery. The rationale for this surgical approach is that removal of the CNV may halt enlargement of the visual defect, spare photoreceptors in the central macula, and allow adjacent ocular structures to function normally. Data regarding the effectiveness of this approach is limited to reports of case series which suffer from the absence of untreated controls, limited number of cases evaluated, or lack of long term follow-up to assess the impact of recurrent CNV, delayed atrophy of the outer retina, and adverse outcomes such as cataract and retinal detachment, requiring additional treatment.