Readers Sound Off

If It Ain't Broke' I read your article about fine-tuning antiretroviral therapy with relief ['Balance of Power,' December 2004]. Like many HIV-positive people, I am thrilled there are new, better, and easier-to-tolerate medications available. Any advance in treatment that makes a lifetime of drug therapy stronger or easier to stick to is desperately needed. But many of us'and even a few of us on combination therapy for nearly a decade now'are doing well on our current regimens and are facing a lot of anxiety over whether we should try newer combinations. I have heard some people say their doctors made them switch drugs'saying the new pills are easier to take'even when they were reluctant to make the change. I am glad the doctors quoted in your article agree with many of us by saying that these changes are not always for the better. Sure, getting rid of bad side effects or reducing pill burden is great, but many of us doing well on older combinations wonder why we should mess with a good thing if we do not have to. Aaron Clark via e-mail Cheek to Cheek I was disappointed when I read your article on facial reconstruction ['About Face,' December 2004]. It is my pictures that appear on page 29, taken before and after my first Bio-Alcamid injections at Clinic'estetica in Tijuana, Mexico. While I do not feel that your magazine should endorse any of the procedures discussed in the article, I do think it would have been a service to your readers to say what procedure had been done. In the accompanying consumer guide ['Buyer Beware'], the writer makes it a point, in my opinion, to trash Clinic'estetica and its founder, Anna Love. While saying that there are stories of botched procedures concerning every available facial reconstruction option, he only attacks Clinic'estetica and Love. I do not know about other patients of the clinic, but I was very impressed with the clinic, Love, Luis Casavantes, and his staff. I am very happy with my results and recommend Bio-Alcamid injections to anyone considering facial reconstruction. Ken Curry New Orleans Holding Out for a Hero Wow! That is all I can say about learning of Speedy, the HIV-positive sidekick to comic-book superhero Green Arrow ['Positively Heroic,' December 2004]. I cannot think of a better way to educate young people about HIV risks and why it is important to protect themselves against the virus. I'm equally impressed'but not surprised'that artist and writer Judd Winick is involved in the project. After seeing firsthand what living with HIV was like as a roommate to Pedro Zamora on MTV's The Real World and grieving after Zamora's death to AIDS, Winick has dedicated himself to fighting HIV and has become one of the AIDS movement's true heroes. Michael Taylor New York City Party Time? Shame on Brandon's Poz Parties ['Working to Prevent Further Infections,' December 2004]. It has already been medically proven that repeated exposures to HIV increase an HIV-positive person's chance of developing AIDS. If people get sick or sicker along the way, it's no skin off Robert Brandon Sandor's nose. David Alexander San Francisco