ON THE NET
This site offers information on degenerative retinal diseases.

The Foundation Fighting Blindness

Through its www.blindness.org Web site, The Foundation Fighting Blindness offers you and your patients complete and comprehensive information on degenerative retinal diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), retinitis pigmentosa, Usher syndrome, Stargardt disease and others.

The Foundation, which is currently funding 155 research studies at 55 institutions, has created an easy-to-navigate site that provides a number of useful features for both patients and eyecare professionals.

Patients can use the site to learn about the causes, symptoms and progression of the major retinal diseases, along with ways to cope with diminished vision. Patients can also learn which factors determine who is most likely to get each of these diseases.

Eyecare professionals can use the site to keep up with the latest advances is retinal research, including gene therapy, retinal cell transplantation and retinal implants. Information is updated regularly to keep pace with the latest scientific breakthroughs.

The site also has a section on clinical trials, providing information regarding ongoing trials and opportunities to enroll patients.

Finally, the site provides a huge number of links to various government agencies, charities, research organizations and patient support groups involved in the fight against degenerative retinal diseases.

With 6 million Americans currently afflicted with retinal diseases and another 15 million showing pre-symptomatic signs of AMD, www. blindness.org is a site that you'll be able to use yourself and also recommend to patients.

Visit www.blindness.org

If you've discovered a Web site or service that's been useful to you in practice or at home, we'd like to know about it. E-mail Jerry Helzner at helznergi@boucher1.com  or call him at (215) 643-8013.