Ophthalmology and the Ageing Society

The ageing of the world’s population is one of the major achievements of modern society. By 2050, an estimated 2 billion people will be aged 60 years or over. However, ageing poses major challenges and this is especially true for the field of ophthalmology, given that the major eye diseases – age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataract – predominantly affect the elderly. The challenges facing ophthalmology in an ageing society have not previously been addressed in a comprehensive way, although there are common denominators of the various eye diseases that affect the elderly. This book provides such a comprehensive overview encompassing epidemiology, risk factors, current treatment and prophylaxis, disability, co-morbidity, and the impact on quality of life. World leaders in their respective fields provide state-of-the-art knowledge on the geriatric aspects of ophthalmology that will help to improve the management of this growing patient population.

Hendrik P.N. Scholl, M.D., M.A. is Visiting Professor of Ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute and Head of the Visual Neurophysiology Service. He received his M.D. from the Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen, Germany, and did his residency at the Centre for Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen. He did a clinical research fellowship at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK. In 2004, he was awarded a Heisenberg-Fellowship of the German Research Foundation for his achievements in the field of macular degeneration and subsequently joined the faculty at the Dept. of Ophthalmology, University of Bonn for 5 years until he was recruited to the Wilmer Eye Institute in 2010.Dr. Scholl specializes in medical and surgical management of retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. He has a specific expertise in inherited retinal and macular degenerations including retinitis pigmentosa and Leber’s congenital amaurosis and uses latest technology for the diagnosis of these disorders such as electroretinography, microperimetry and highresolution imaging.Dr. Scholl's primary research interest relates to visual loss in retinal degenerations and to therapeutic measures in order to rescue vision. He uses psychophysical and electrophysiological methods to measure visual function and high-resolution topographic and tomographic imaging to investigate retinal structure. He aims at developing more efficient markers for upcoming clinical trials. Dr. Scholl has been funded in the past by the European Commission and the German Research Foundation. In 2008, he received the European Vision Award and in 2010 the Wynn-Gund Translational Research Award by the Foundation Fighting Blindness and the Macular Degeneration Research Award by the American Health Assistance Foundation.