Burying one's head in the sand might not be the best survival behavior.
It comes as a shock to patients to learn that many doctors don’t keep up with the latest literature in their field. New studies come out in high quality, peer reviewed scientific journals. But physicians, as a lot, tend to be dubious of the results. And it often takes YEARS and several corroborative studies before the doctors feel comfortable enough to change their behavior. And it may still not happen unless they discuss the issue with their peers and everyone else has made the change. As a rule, doctors tend to have a herd mentality.
After 20 years in practice, I have finally recognized this. But it was my involvement with VisiVite.Com, beginning in 2001, that alerted me to this disturbing trend.
In November 2002, one full year after the National Eye Institute’s Age Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) was published, our company presented our VisiVite vitamin formulas at the largest annual meeting of ophthalmologists in the world, the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Annual Meeting. Nearly 30,000 ophthalmologists attended.
Only one hundred or so eye doctors (1/3 of one percent) wanted to discuss eye vitamin research with us. And among them, the comments were along the lines, “Nothing helps macular degeneration, certainly not eye vitamins.”
And mind you, this was one year after the most prestigious ocular research institution published a beautifully designed, randomized, double-blind, prospective study of thousands of patients measured over five years proving the benefits of the AREDS formulation. It took nearly 5 more years before eye doctors began routinely recommending eye vitamins to their patients with AMD.
So it continues to frustrate me, and it should frustrate you as well, to read the letter below, sent to me on January 29, 2010, about a patient’s lament that the doctor wants to stay with “what he knows.”
Where does that leave you, the patient?
My friends, you need to be your own, and best, health care advocate.
Paul L. Krawitz, M.D., President
Vitamin Science, Inc.
———————-
Dear Dr. Krawitz,
I purchased the Premier Ocular Formula 2 for my husband …he has wet AMD
in one eye & dry AMD in the other….yesterday, I showed his Retina Specialist
the info on said vitamins but he said he would rather my husband stayed with
the _________ (husband is a smoker) since it is the only one with any scientific
basis. I have to say I was rather disappointed because I liked what I read about
the Premier Ocular 2 Formula.
Dear Mary,
Doctors are sometimes slow to come on board with the most recent research.
The Premier Ocular Formula No. 2 contains everything that ________ has, AND MORE!
Compare below:
- Vitamin C: 452 mg in ________, 500 mg in VisiVite
- Vitamin E: 400 IU in both
- Zinc: 69.9 in ________, 80 mg in VisiVite
- Copper: 1.6 in ________, 2.0 in VisiVite
- Lutein: 10 mg in both
But…
________ has NO OMEGA 3 ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS! And the research
supporting their use in the prevention of AMD is strong.
And the National Eye Institute and others now know that these are CRITICAL to
prevention of AMD worsening. The proof is so strong that they are now including
the verysame Omega-3 formulation that’s in VisiVite Premier in the AREDS 2
research.
You can read more about AREDS 2 here:
Ultimately you and your husband have to do what is comfortable for you and
what you think holds the best chance for preventing him from losing vision.
I’d be happy to write your husband’s doctor a personal note explaining the
benefits of VisiVite Premier Ocular Formula No. 2. if you wish.
Dr. Krawitz
Just a gimmick to sell vitamins, IMPO. Greed!
—
Thanks for your honesty, Dr. Collins.
Like much of medicine practiced in the Western world, it is sometimes difficult to sort out profit versus the patient’s best interest.
Suffice it to say that we’re a niche producer of several eye vitamins used to treat macular degeneration. What upsets me when a patient’s doctor tells her “there’s no evidence” is not the loss of sale of a single bottle of our own vitamins, but rather my frustration with his ignorance of the the medical literature. Had the patient instead told me that she was choosing a competitor product, but one based on evidence that would protect her vision, I would have been gratified.
Paul Krawitz, M.D., President
Vitamin Science, Inc.