Preface

Macular degeneration is one of the leading causes of blindness. The devastating effect of this blinding disease becomes more obvious as people age. Leaps and bounds of innovations and inventions have increased patient quality of life and have helped many patients regain lost vision in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). However, the therapeutic options for the more prevalent variety of macular degeneration, atrophic or "dry" AMD, are lacking.

This book is a collection of chapters that focus on the disease state of macular degeneration, issues related to the diagnosis and management of AMD, treatment considerations, and vision rehabilitation. The introductory chapter sets the tone for the book with general issues related to AMD pathogenesis. The section on diagnosis and management talks about using optical coherence tomography to aid clinical management as well as highlights the importance of discussing with patients the concept of health promotion and issues related to good diet and supplementation for atrophic AMD. The next section delves into anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy (anti-VEGF), which is the standard of care in AMD, and new modalities of drugs under development for the disease. One would hope that with early management and interventions we could potentially avoid the need for low vision and vision rehabilitation, but this remains an aspiration for now. Thus, the final section discusses vision rehabilitation and new strategies and advances in this area.

A multi-author edited book is never complete without contributions from experts in the field. I am grateful to all the contributing authors and the reviewers that helped shape this book. A special thanks goes to Author Service Manager Ms. Romina Rovan at IntechOpen for her tireless efforts in seeing this book to completion. Most importantly, I am grateful to my family and my dear wife Payal, and my kids Ved and Jash, who allowed me to dedicate myself to scientific pursuits. Payal, Ved, and Jash, you are truly the support that enables me to do all that I do and for that I am grateful.

> **Pinakin Gunvant Davey** Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California, USA

Section 1 Introduction
