Kitchen, Clyde K. 1933-

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Kitchen, Clyde K. 1933-

PERSONAL:

Born April 17, 1933; married; wife's name Janet; children: five. Education: University of Iowa, B.A., 1955, M.D., 1958.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Kitchen & Mosier MDs, 1321 N. Harbor Blvd., Fullerton, CA 92835.

CAREER:

Writer, physician, and ophthalmologist. St. Jude Hospital, Department of Ophthalmology, Fullerton, CA, member of senior active staff.

WRITINGS:

Fact and Fiction of Healthy Vision: Eye Care for Adults and Children, Praeger Publishers (Westport, CT), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Clyde K. Kitchen is a writer, physician, and career ophthalmologist who has been in practice for almost forty-five years. He is part of the senior active staff of the department of ophthalmology at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton, California, where he offers patients and younger doctors access to his vast knowledge and experience in vision health and eye care.

Kitchen is also an advocate of education, and in his book, Fact and Fiction of Healthy Vision: Eye Care for Adults and Children, he provides detailed medical information geared toward a nonspecialist audience of patients, parents, and interested readers. Kitchen carefully "explains the basics of eye care" for adults, children, and senior citizens, noted a SciTech Book News reviewer. He provides a thorough overview of issues, concepts, and terminology associated with ophthalmology, eye care, visual health, and the treatment of eye diseases and visual disorders. Kitchen summarizes both existing treatments and correctives that have been proven effective time and again, as well as new types of surgeries and procedures that have demonstrated early promise in the treatment of vision problems. He discusses topics such as eye anatomy, the nature and goals of eye examinations, medications used in treating eye troubles, surgical procedures, the use of eyeglasses and corrective lenses, symptoms and indications of eye problems, and more. Kitchen also provides information on specific types of eye problems, such as cataracts, glaucoma, itchy eyes, lazy eye, cancer of the eye, congenital eye defects, macular degeneration, the effects of diabetes on vision, migraines and headaches caused by visual problems, and other common and uncommon conditions of the eye. For patients facing corrective surgery or other medical procedures, he describes what to expect from the process and the anticipated outcome of the procedures. Kitchen also includes a thorough appendix and a glossary of terms related to ophthalmology and eye care.

Kitchen makes particular note of eye care for children and for aging members of the Baby Boom generation. His goal is not only to allow parents to make educated and informed decisions about eye care for their offspring, and to help eye-care patients put their fears and apprehensions to rest, but also to "help aging consumers retain their visual health," commented a reviewer on the Exceptional Parent Library Web site. An MBR Bookwatch reviewer called Kitchen a "doctor who definitely knows what he is talking about," and Fact and Fiction of Healthy Vision a book that would be "an asset in any home."

Kitchen told CA: "I have attended the doctors' writing course in Cape Cod presented by SEAK, where I met Dr. Julie Silver and later attended her Harvard doctors writing course in Boston twice. I can give her credit for having become published.

"I felt that I have things to say, and as mentioned in the opening of my book, I am continually surprised how little the public and other general doctors know about their eyes, such that they need protection from misleading statements heard constantly in radio and TV advertisements. With this in mind, the writing part was easy.

"The getting published is the hard part, and I am grateful for the help I received. Once published, however, I have learned that the publicity part is also very difficult, especially if a book like mine is incorrectly classified as a text book by major book stores and not given shelf space in their stores. This is my first book and who knows if others will follow."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, October, 2007, N.M. Allen, review of Fact and Fiction of Healthy Vision: Eye Care for Adults and Children, p. 317.

MBR Bookwatch, September, 2007, review of Fact and Fiction of Healthy Vision.

SciTech Book News, September, 2007, review of Fact and Fiction of Healthy Vision.