| Like other medical specialties, ophthalmology undergoes constant enormous development in all its subspecialties. Assembling essential information is therefore an ever-recurring task, which needs to be done in various ways and for various target groups. The specialty of ophthalmology owes its development in recent years to numerous technical innovations. However, these can benefit the patient fully only when there is comprehensive knowledge of the clinical features of diseases. The primary concern of this pocket atlas is to assist with this. A pocket atlas of ophthalmology does not and cannot compete with detailed textbooks. However, the special concept of the pocket atlas has permitted the inclusion of an extraordinarily wide range of illustrations as measured by the overall scope of the book. The up-to-date explanations in the text support these illustrations in a deliberately brief form, as the aim of all the authors involved was to integrate essential information about all the important diseases of the specialty.
The book is intended for students and junior doctors training in ophthalmology, without rendering detailed textbooks superfluous. However, the ready availability of basic information coupled with the extensive illustrations should awaken the interest of colleagues in other specialties.
At this point, the editors would like to thank all of the authors involved, who through their competent articles enabled the entire spectrum of the latest clinical ophthalmology to be illustrated in a compressed form. Our special thanks go to Ms. Regina Hofer, graphic artist at Tübingen University Eye Clinic, whose illustrations have substantially enriched this pocket atlas. Furthermore, we are greatly obliged to the staff of the photographic department of Tübingen University Eye Clinic as the majority of the high-quality illustrations is derived from their work and they assisted us actively in the choice of illustrations. We thank and acknowledge the publisher, Thieme, for not hesitating to turn this project into a reality in times of constricted economic scope. We also thank Randall L. Goodman, Santa Maria, California, USA, for his invaluable assistance in adapting the book to meet the needs of the international marketplace.
We hope and wish that this atlas will provide readers with a clearly structured and informative book that will assist them in their practical work for the benefit of patients. |