A recent trial showed that 3mg of melatonin given orally each night at bedtime for 3months to AMD patients reduced pathologic macular changes.

Melatonin is a hormone with antioxidant effects. Researchers hypothesized that melatonin’s antioxidant properties may help stop shortening of telomeres – chromosomal structures that become shorter over time due to factors like aging, inflammation, and damage caused by free radicals). By preventing telomere-shortening in the cells of the retina, the report suggests, melatonin may help preserve eyesight and slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration.

Read a summary of the research for patients here ^[1], and an abstract of the research here ^[2].