A Letter from the Editor

I am an eye surgeon and clinical epidemiologist who has been actively involved in macular degeneration research for a number of years. While I have diagnosed and treated thousands of patients with this condition, it was not until I started performing quality-of-life research on patients with macular degeneration that I began to understand how profoundly affected they are by the disease.

Why MacDegen.com? When I first started practicing ophthalmology, I was struck by how little people knew about macular degeneration. Having this condition was certainly not like having heart disease, cancer or stroke. Despite the large number of people affected by it, you didn’t hear about it on the radio or TV, and stories about patients affected by it certainly didn’t appear in popular magazines. In fact, chances are that if you had asked your family doctor about macular degeneration back then, even he or she would likely have known little about it. A few years ago, however, that all changed. With the widespread adoption of the Internet, information about macular degeneration became readily available to all. Sometimes, however, when one problem is solved, another is created. While information about macular degeneration may have become ubiquitous, much of it was either inaccurate or created to sell treatments that were not of proven benefit.

Clearly, an unbiased and scientifically credible voice regarding macular degeneration research was needed. Since I regularly review articles on the subject for most scientific eye journals and I serve as a co-editor-in-chief of a journal for eye surgeons called Evidence-Based Eye Care, I thought: Why not take some of the information I was reviewing for physicians, distill it into lay terms and get it into the hands of others who may want to know more about this condition?

On a personal note, my aunt, who lives many hours away, was recently diagnosed with macular degeneration. When she asked me about her condition, I realized that I finally had to answer the question frequently posed to me by patients, “Doctor Sharma, what would you do if a family member had macular degeneration?” Our newsletter was initially created as a way for me to send her the latest scientific information on her condition. Since she found it very useful, I thought of putting it on the web for all to read.

What are our services? We have created two services that will help you better understand macular degeneration: a book and an electronic newsletter. I hope that by reading the book, MacDegen^TM − The Story, readers will learn about the basics of the disease. Instead of writing just another book on macular degeneration, I decided to make it a little more entertaining and convey the message in the form of a story. As you read it, please remember that writing is not my vocation, so don’t be too critical if you notice a few typos! Our newsletter, MacDegen^TM Science, is a way for readers to keep up with the latest scientific information on macular degeneration. My hope is that newsletter subscribers will get this information at the same time as eye doctors.

It is my sincerest hope that you find MacDegen.com useful for your needs.

Sincerely,

Sanjay Sharma, MD, MS
Editor-in-Chief
MacDegen^TM Science