Addressing COVID‐19 fear to improve clinic attendance for patients with wet age‐related macular degeneration

• Published in: Acta Ophthalmologica Vol. 99; no. 2; p. e285
• Main Authors: Fung, Timothy H.M., Kuet, Mong‐Loon, Patel, Moneesh K., Puri, Pankaj
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.03.2021; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Aged; Attitude to Health; Comorbidity; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; Fear; Female; Humans; Letter To The Editor; Letters to the Editor; Macular degeneration; Male; Pandemics; Patient Admission - statistics & numerical data; SARS-CoV-2; United Kingdom - epidemiology; Wet Macular Degeneration - epidemiology; Wet Macular Degeneration - psychology; Wet Macular Degeneration - therapy; United Kingdom
• ISSN: 1755-375X; 1755-3768
• DOI: 10.1111/aos.14520

Despite implementing precautions to reduce the risk of COVID‐19 transmission in our clinics (Royal College of Ophthalmologists, 2020), we have noticed a sharp fall in patients with sight‐threatening conditions, such as wet age‐related macular degeneration (wAMD) attending their appointments. Whilst the debate on the use of patient facemasks and coverings continues globally, our findings show that many patients would feel safer if it became a requirement to wear one in the clinic. References References [RAW_REF_TEXT]American Academy of Ophthalmology (2020): Alert: important coronavirus updates for ophthalmologists. https://www.aao.org/headline/alert‐important‐coronavirus‐context Accessed on 18 May 2020.[/RAW_REF_TEXT] [RAW_REF_TEXT]Royal College of Ophthalmologists (2020): Management of Ophthalmology Services during the Covid pandemic. https://www.rcophth.ac.uk/wp‐content/uploads/2020/03/RCOphth‐Management‐of‐Ophthalmology‐Services‐during‐the‐Covid‐pandemic‐280320.pdf.