AIM:To document the prognosis of laser treatment in patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration ( AMD) . METHODS:Efficacy of the intervention was evaluated using a before-after method. RESULTS:A total of 392 eyes of 341 patients with exudative AMD were examined. 77. 6% had choroideal neovascularisation ( CNV) . Before the use of indocyanine green ( ICG) angiography,occult CNV was detected in only 1.8% of the eyes,but after the use of ICG angiography,this increased to 19. 5% ( P < 0. 001) . Of the 349 eyes which were followed up,visual acuity had remained stable in 68.2% of the eyes. There was a statistically significant relationship between localization of lesion and visual acuity changes on pre-and post-laser treatment ( P < 0. 001) . Also there was a statistically significant relationship between localization of lesion and recurrence ( P <0.05) . The recurrence was less in subfoveal lesions than that in juxtafoveal and extrafoveal lesions. CONCLUSION:ICG angiography is highly important in the treatment of occult CNV.