Ann Keen opens her eyes to blindness

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RNIB campaign aims to prevent avoidable blindness

Ann Keen MP is joining with RNIB and local optician Classic Eyes, to campaign in Brentford and Isleworth following the national launch in Parliament of RNIB’s ‘Open Your Eyes’ campaign, which aims to cut the number of people who will unnecessarily lose their sight from treatable eye conditions like diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and Age-related macular degeneration.

RNIB estimate that if urgent action is not taken now, the number of people with sight loss in our area could double by 2030 to 6,000 people, with four million people nationally experiencing sight loss.

Ann Keen MP said ‘I support RNIB’s call on government to raise awareness of the need for a regular eye test and will be working at local and national level to help them with the campaign. Many people believe that an eye test is just to see whether you need glasses, but it is more than this - it is an eye health check. Only two-thirds of the adult population have had an eye test within the past two years, the most common reason for not having a test being that people think they don’t have a problem with their eyes. But an eye test can identify eye disease well before we notice any change in our vision. By the time there are symptoms a great deal of useful vision will have been lost and may never be recovered. I would urge everyone in our area to get their eyes tested regularly.”

Steve Winyard, RNIB’s Head of Public Policy, said “Ignorance is quietly robbing people of their sight every day. Unless action is taken now tens of thousands of

People across the UK will this year needlessly lose their sight from conditions that could be treated if caught early. The Government needs to act now as the situation is going to get much worse with the explosion in the numbers of people with diabetes and the ageing of our population.”

Open Your Eyes revealed that over half of sight loss in the UK is avoidable. The report states that in the UK 1.9 million people have diabetes (which leads to retinopathy in at least 60% of cases causing irreversible sight loss unless treated early) and either don’t know it or aren’t having regular eye tests. A further 250,000 people have glaucoma in its early stages, which is treatable in nearly all cases if caught early, and are not aware of it.

February 14, 2006