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I'm editing a church prayer sheet, and one of the requests is that someone's specific eye disorder won't keep getting worse. The original phrasing, unfortunately, was pretty awful: "Pray for Macular Degeneration to be maintained from further degeneration". I couldn't let that stand, and came up with "No further progression of macular degeneration" (with "pray for" implied, of course), but I'm not real happy with that either; it's too sesquipedalianly loquacious, and still a bit long too. I would say something about stasis, but that doesn't sound right for diseases.

The ideal here would be a nice short phrase/word, much like cancer's "remission", that applies to health problems that aren't generally recovered from but might not deteriorate further.

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  • arrest: "... administration of high doses of antioxidants, fatty acids, carotenoids, amino acids, and minerals ... can dramatically enhance nutrient delivery and arrest (further) degeneration of vision." The Center for Natural & Integrative Medicine drkalidas.com/pathways/intravenous.html See also: Macular Degeneration, Cataracts, and Retinopathy DaSilva Institute, Florida dasilvainstitute.com/ocular-disorders
    – Kris
    Feb 5, 2015 at 11:17
  • @Kris: Possibly. A bit too jargon-y in this context though; words like "remission" get a pass because of how common they are.
    – Nathan Tuggy
    Feb 5, 2015 at 11:22
  • "remission" and similar terms are strictly defined in medical dictionaries, their "popular" use is mostly incorrect and considered ignorant usage. "A remission is a temporary end to the medical signs and symptoms of an incurable disease." Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cure So watch out.
    – Kris
    Feb 5, 2015 at 11:26
  • @Kris: Duly noted and already aware of that, otherwise I might have tried remission, which would not actually work here.
    – Nathan Tuggy
    Feb 5, 2015 at 11:28
  • @NathanTuggy- This is a bit off topic but, why are you limiting God? Why wouldn't you just ask the congregation to pray for the petitioner's eyesight to be restored?
    – Oldbag
    Feb 5, 2015 at 11:36

2 Answers 2

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It sounds like you're looking for some form of stabilize, frequently used in medical contexts for exactly this meaning.

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    Although I suppose you could achieve what you want even more tersely by using your original phrasing and just dropping the "progression of" part. "No further macular degeneration" seems short and to the point.
    – Mark Thompson
    Feb 5, 2015 at 11:13
  • Wow. Now I feel just a bit like a dunce. Your comment suggestion is extremely good.
    – Nathan Tuggy
    Feb 5, 2015 at 11:14
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You are praying that the condition does not get/become any worse or that it might not worsen.

In fact, I see you actually used that in your question here.

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  • Right, but how would you work that into a standalone semi-fragment? Something like "That her macular degeneration not worsen"? I guess that could be worse, but it's a bit wordy still.
    – Nathan Tuggy
    Feb 5, 2015 at 16:04
  • Yes. Just like that. I think the problem with "wordiness" is "macular degeneration", not "worsen".
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Feb 5, 2015 at 16:05

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