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Wiki Article: Metamorphopsia (Nov 23rd in-class Wiki session work)

 * This is a place to practice clicking the "edit" button and practice adding references (via the citation button).
 * Metamorphopsia
 * My name of the article was added above, the hyperlink to the wiki article was added above and a citation from pubmed was inserted (but not this is not the exact article I am using for my actual assignment).

Assignment # 3
Proposed Changes:

The Wikipedia article entitled “Metamorphopsia” in its current state does not provide much information about the symptom and the clinical diagnoses a patient can anticipate if they are experiencing this symptom. As such, my modification to this Wikipedia page will not be an edit to a current section of the article, but rather the addition of an entirely new section focused on the differential diagnosis that might stem from a presentation of metamorphopsia.

New Section Text:

Causes of Metamorphopsia

Metamorphopsia can be a symptom of a number of eye disorders involving the retina or macular.

Some of these conditions include the following :


 * Age-Related Macular Degeneration
 * Epiretinal Membrane and Vitreomacular Traction
 * Posterior Vitreous Detachment
 * Lattice Degeneration
 * Macular Hole

Each of the listed conditions will be linked to other Wikipedia articles where the patient or individual experiencing metamorphopsia can go to get more information about the specific conditions that could result in this symptom.

Rationale for proposed change:

As mentioned in my previous assignment, often the main concern for a patient experiencing a symptom is what illness they might develop. The current Wikipedia article does not make clear that metamorphopsia is a symptom and does not provide any information about what clinical diagnoses could stem from experiencing metamorphopsia. As such, I propose the addition of a new section on the differential diagnosis for metamorphopsia. In other words, what diagnoses can a patient anticipate if they are experiencing this symptom. I feel this section will be helpful for patients in understanding potential long-term health impacts of experiencing metamorphopsia and will prepare them with information when visiting their physician. I have purposely labelled this section “Causes of Metamorphopsia” versus “Differential Diagnosis” or “Clinical Diagnoses” because the selected title makes it clear to the general public that these are conditions that could result in experiencing metamorphopsia as a symptom. I have also purposefully labelled metamorphopsia as a “symptom” in the proposed addition to the article. My aim is to make clear to patients that this is a symptom and not a clinical diagnosis in and of itself. This distinction is pertinent information for a patient, so they can understand that when they go to their physician the end result will not be a diagnosis of metamorphopsia. While a more thorough overview of each condition is outside the scope of this assignment, I proposed linking the above existing Wikipedia resources in the Metamorphopsia article in order to fill any gaps in information.

Supporting Reference: American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) (2019, October). Summary Benchmarks for Preferred Practice Pattern Guidelines. https://www.aao.org/summarybenchmarkdetail/retina-summary-benchmarks-2019

The AAO resource was used to identify which retinal diseases would include metamorphopsia as a presenting symptom. The list of retinal diseases was then compiled to generate the list seen above in the proposed changes. Without this information, the article does not provide sufficient distinction between “symptom” and “disease” and does not add context to what having metamorphopsia might mean for a patient.

Controversy/Varied Opinions:

From my research on this topic, there is little controversy or varied opinion on what clinical diagnoses might result in experiencing the symptom of metamorphopsia. Presumably, the authors of the Clinical Practice Guideline will have resolved any conflicting evidence in the process of determining what the best practices for the treatment of various retinal diseases is. Where there may be varied opinions is in individual physician assessment of which diagnosis to make. However, for the purposes of editing this article, this information is not relevant here.

Critique of Source:

The source identified above is a clinical practice guideline produced by the American Academy of Ophthalmology. While this source has a number of strengths, notably that it is recent, made from a summary of many secondary and primary sources (i.e., the statements are systematically developed based on best evidence), and is from a reputable and recognized authority in ophthalmology, some of the critiques of this source could include:

1. Conflicts of interest – As far as my review of the source and assessment of funders of the American Academy of Ophthalmology indicates, there do not seem to be any indications of a conflict of interest. I acknowledge however that there are perhaps other funding parties such as pharmaceutical companies that may be funders and not identified publicly. But from my review of this source and the information available to me, it does seem to overcome this potential criticism.

2. Quality of evidence – Again another potential criticism of a clinical practice guideline is the quality of evidence used to create the recommendations. Again, it seems that this particular resource has not fallen victim to this and the AAO has done an excellent job of assessing the quality of evidence and grading the recommendations according to the quality of evidence.

3. Publication bias – Generally there is publication bias in the literature, i.e., the propensity for papers that demonstrate statistical significance and positive outcomes to be preferentially published over those that do not. While it is possible that perhaps the AAO authors might have selected those studies that demonstrate a particular outcome, there is no evidence of this from my critical appraisal of this resource.

Overall, I would contend that the resource I have selected is strong and proves to be a reliable source of information for the proposed modifications to the Wikipedia article delineated above.

What to post on the Wikipedia article talk page?

 * This will also be covered on Nov 23rd in class. Your group should use the below template to share an outline of your proposed improvements (including your new wording and citations). Article talk pages are not places to share your assignment answers. The Wikipedia community will be more interested in viewing your exact article improvement suggestions including where you plan to improve the article (which section), what wording you suggest, and the exact citation (Note: all citations must meet WP:MEDRS)
 * You will not be able to paste citations directly from your sandbox to talk pages (unless you are interested in editing/learning Wiki-code in the "source editing" mode). We suggest re-adding your citations on the talk page manually (using the cite button and populating the citation by pasting in the DOI, website, or PMID). You will have to repeat this process yet again when you edit the actual article live.
 * Talk Page Template: CARL Medical Editing Initiative/Fall 2020/Talk Page Template