title: A historical perspective on the early treatment of night blindness and the use of dubious and unproven treatment strategies for patients with retinitis pigmentosa.
abstract: Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a form of inherited night blindness. Over decades, various dubious treatment strategies that lacked sufficient theoretically sound underpinnings were explored. Initially they were enthusiastically promoted and subsequently discredited. It is apparent that many were predicated on the erroneous assumption that the primary cause of RP was related to impairment of the retinal circulation. Herein, several of these strategies are reviewed and critiqued. Reasons why clinicians may have been deceived into overzealous interpretations of their treatment methods are explored. The examples disclosed should serve as a note of caution for current investigators to guard against self-deception when exploring newly developed treatment strategies.
authors.affiliation: The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired and Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Electronic address: gerafish@uic.edu.
authors.forename: Gerald A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Fishman
mesh_terms: D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000266:history*; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D009755:Night Blindness / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy; D012174:Retinitis Pigmentosa / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy
keywords: Cuban treatment; Soviet Union treatment; dubious RP treatments; historical RP treatments; night blindness; retinitis pigmentosa (RP)