MacuLogix® Hosts Inaugural AMD Speaker Alliance
Twenty-five key opinion leaders map out strategies to make AMD education more practical for OD audiences
MIDDLETOWN, Pa., Jan. 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MacuLogix, Inc., the only company to equip eye care professionals with the instrument, tools and education needed to effectively diagnose and treat patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), proudly hosted the industry's first AMD Speaker Alliance meeting. The peer-to-peer event was attended by 25 optometric key opinion leaders who are at the front lines of minimizing vision loss due to AMD and other retinal disease.
"This meeting is helping us kick off a movement in our profession because, in reality, the fight against AMD has barely begun," says attendee Jeffry Gerson, OD. "AMD is at least three times more common than glaucoma, yet how many practices can say that their charts reflect this fact? This is a problem with dire consequences." Indeed, a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology revealed that both optometrists and ophthalmologists are missing AMD about 25% of the time.1 Also quite concerning is that 30% of the undiagnosed eyes in the study had large drusen.1
"Failure to diagnose is clearly a problem," adds Paul Karpecki, OD. A staggering 78% of patients are first diagnosed with AMD having already suffered irreversible vision loss, and nearly half of them are first diagnosed with an acuity of 20/200 or worse.2,3 "As a profession, we need to step up education and help our colleagues improve these statistics."
During the two-day event, the AMD Speaker Alliance attendees discussed strategies and training methods that can help make AMD education meaningful and relevant in real life clinical practice. In 2019, these doctors plan to share their own best practices and help spread the word that optometric education should neither ignore AMD nor should it focus too heavily on end-stage treatments. Instead, optometric educators can make a difference by showing their peers how to detect disease sooner so that less invasive treatments can be initiated and patients can be more carefully monitored to prevent or delay devastating outcomes.
"MacuLogix recognizes the great opportunity for progress in terms of improving AMD outcomes and is committed to doing everything possible to achieve our vision of eliminating blindness caused by AMD," said Amanda K. Lee, OD, Director of Professional Relations, MacuLogix. "The meeting was tremendously useful because it allowed many of the profession's most prominent speakers to learn from one another and work together to map out the road to a better, healthier future."
2019 AMD Speaker Alliance Attendees
Chuck Aldridge, OD
Larry Baitch, OD
Glenn Corbin, OD
Damon Dierker, OD
Tim Earley, OD
Steven Ferrucci, OD
Jeffry Gerson, OD
Kent Godfrey, OD
Eric Hammond, OD
Paul Karpecki, OD
Gary Kirman, OD
Claudio Lagunas, OD
Harry Landsaw, OD
Ryan LeBreton, OD
Amanda Legge, OD
Blair Lonsberry, OD
Perry Lopez, OD
Oliver Lou, OD
Pam Lowe, OD
Ryan Powell, OD
Scott Schachter, OD
Leo Semes, OD
Laurie Sorrenson, OD
Kurt Steele, OD
Aaron Werner, OD
About MacuLogix®
MacuLogix, Inc. equips eye care professionals with the instrument, tools and education needed to effectively diagnose and treat patients with AMD. By leveraging the science of dark adaptation through its AdaptDx®, MacuLogix is working to eliminate preventable blindness caused by AMD, a chronic, progressive disease that impacts over 170 million people worldwide and goes undiagnosed in 25 percent of patients. Through its AdaptDx® dark adaptation biomarker, MacuLogix enables eye care professionals to detect, monitor and treat AMD three years before it can be seen clinically. MacuLogix provides in-practice training and treatment best practices to support the implementation and optimization of the AdaptDx®. Visit www.maculogix.com for additional information.
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References
1. Neely DC, Bray KJ, Huisingh CE, Clark ME, McGwin G, Owsley C. Prevalence of Undiagnosed Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Primary Eye Care. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2017;135(6):570-575.
2. Olsen TW, Feng X, Kasper TJ, Rath PP, Steuer ER. Fluorescein angiographic lesion type frequency in neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Ophthalmology. 2004;111(2):250-255. doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2003.05.030.
3. Cervantes-Castañeda RA, Banin E, Hemo I, Shpigel M, Averbukh E, Chowers I. Lack of benefit of early awareness toage-related macular degeneration. Eye. 2007;22(6):777-781. doi:10.1038/sj.eye.6702691.
SOURCE MacuLogix, Inc.
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