so i have a older 2013 macbook 11inch air
the screen has water damage. the lcd still has good picture however it looks like the sides are faded/ ghostly color.
IF any only if you actually know: do i need to replace the lcd or the actual backlight panel as well?
i will be posting pictures once i post from the laptop
I've taken apart display's which had water damage in the past, and from my experience, if you separate the layers, and clean them all, the display will work fine and look fine. My guess is that it looks "ghostly" because of some material that was dissolved in the water, and once the water evaporated, that residue was left behind. However, with your pictures, I really can't tell for sure whether it is some deposited residue, or if the LCD is damaged.
If you do try to separate the layers of the display, make sure you're grounded. Less hair and other particles will stick to the display if you are grounded while wiping the surface, because of charge differences (you know, positive and negative surfaces attract). If you don't ground yourself, when you put the display back together, you will very easily notice the hairs and other particles in your air that have attached themselves to some of the layers of the display, when the backlight is turned on.
Good luck. Would love to hear what you did to fix the issue! :D
thats what i cant really tell either. it looks like its discoloration behind the lcd. if it was a easy lcd to take apart and i had the double sided tape(ordered last night) i could tell you. but this isnt a very fun screen to work on.
i think im going to go ahead and order the back panels and just replace those. usually cleaning them is a bitch
I doubt it's the LCD that has gone bad. They're pretty resilient to water damage, since most of the time, it is glass sandwiching the actual pixels (liquid crystals). 
It probably is the "back panels" (what I think you mean is the polarizing films/mirror white sheet, right?).
When I had a monitor which had that exact same type of water damage (found it on the street, after it rained), all I did was cleaned all of the layers of the LCD display (so the mirror thing, films, and the actual LCD), and that cloudiness went away.
Take pics when done! :D
ok then ill make sure to update this when i get the tape in. I'm going to go ahead and try to just clean them. i will update this and make a blog about it. There isnt too much information about this online. most of the relevant searches are about the LCD
thanks all for the input
Hi,
BE WARNED, the macbook air screens are a bit different and can be damaged easely when disassembeled. Atleast from what i remember from watching Louis.
I suggest you take a look at Louis Rossmann https://www.youtube.com/user/rossmanngroup
He should have a few videos on the repair / replacement of macbook air screens.
