A review of Coping with Macular Degeneration: A Guide for Patients and Families to Understand and Live with This Degenerative Vision Disorder   by Ira Marc Price and Linda Comac Penguin Group (USA)   Reviewed by Homer Page

Today I walked into an office to pay a bill. I am blind and the first thing that the women behind the counter said was, "My Mother has macular degeneration. She is really having trouble. We have to lead her around". I offered to help, and I told her about the Price and Cormac book. She said that she would go to the bookstore and get it. She thought it would help her to understand what her Mother is experiencing. I agree with her. This book can be helpful to anyone who is personally coping with macular degeneration or has a friend or family member who is learning to cope.

Over 13,000,000 persons in America have macular degeneration. One in three over 70 years of age have it. As our population agree it will become even more common. Macular degeneration is a threat to the independence and health of a growing number of people, but one can live effectively with the disorder, if one learns to cope. "Coping with Macular Degeneration" by Marc Price and Linda Comac is a useful guide to the development of coping strategies that can help one to find continuing independence and self-respect, even if one is dealing with the vision disorder.

Macular degeneration involves the loss of vision in the central part of the visual field. One looses the ability to read and see details. Often parts of the visual field are destroyed. Macular degeneration is associated with aging. It is called "Age Related Macular Degeneration". Price, an optometric doctor, and Comac, a vision specialist, discuss the medical causes of macular degeneration, ways in which it is diagnosed, treatment strategies, available resources, and the need for psychological adjustment. They present a very interesting analysis of the way in which one can use nutritional strategies to prevent the onset of the disorder. In addition to proper diet one should avoid bright sunlight, and one should not smoke. Exposure to bright sunlight and smoke are two environmental factors that correlate highly to the development of macular degeneration.

Price and Comac discuss many of the visual aids that are now available. They list a wide range of support groups and service agencies that can help one to cope, but they believe that finally and individual must make the decision to make whatever use her or she can of the aids and get on with his or her life. Independence can be achieved within the limits of vision loss, but one must decide to take responsibility for oneself. Without that decision no amount of medical knowledge, or visual aids, or support groups can make one independent or happy. Those things come with acceptance and the personal determination to have a rich and full life.