Saturday, June 14, 2008

Portraits of macular degeneration

Artist Adam Hahn is exhibiting work resulting from his year-long research of how the vision is affected of people suffering from the common eye disease, macular degeneration. He worked with opthalmologist Professor Pete Coffey and used data from the Moorfields Eye Hospital. But mostly he talked to his sitters. The project is important in that Hahn found that medical textbooks often misrepresent the vision loss that patients experience, describing it as a black hole rather then the graduated blurring effect that Hahn has managed to capture. His method was to use photographs initially, digitally manipulating them and showing them to the sitters (who often still have good peripheral vision) to verify that it accurately represents the way they see. He then paints the portraits on canvas. Hahn and Coffey were interviewed on Radio 4's Front Row on Thursday 12 June, and the programme is available on Listen Again for a week.

The paintings are on show until 17 July 2008 at the Macalls Gallery, Paddock Wood, Kent.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello! I am a second year medical student at the University of Virginia. I am doing a research project this summer on blogs maintained by medical students and physicians and I have really enjoyed reading yours! I wanted to let you know about an online journal at UVA called Hospital Drive, which can be found at http://hospitaldrive.med.virginia.edu/. I think you and your readers would really enjoy reading and perhaps even submitting material to the journal. Happy Reading!

Shady Grove Eye Vision Care said...

University of Maryland researchers suggest that carotenoids, particularly lycopene may protect the eye against oxidative damage and play a critical role in visual function. The identification of lycopene and a diverse range of dietary carotenoids in ocular tissues suggest that these carotenoids, as well as other nutrients found in tomato-based foods, may work in concert with lutein and zeaxanthin to provide protection against age related macular degeneration and other visual disorders.

Littleant Studies said...

Very thoughtful blogg

Littleant Studies said...

Very nice post