National Eye Health Week

Published at 20 September, 2021.

This week is national eye health week, this years theme is ‘Your Vision Matters’, and encourages people from every walk of life to take better care of their eyes and have regular sight tests.

It’s easy to neglect your eyes because they often do not hurt when there’s a problem,. Having an eye test will not just tell you if you need a change of prescription or new glasses, it’s also an eye health check. An optician can spot many general health problems and early signs of eye conditions before you’re aware of any symptoms.

The NHS recommends that you should get your eyes tested every 2 years, but your optometrist may advise for you to be retested earlier than that.

Protecting your eyes from the sun is important, never look at the sun directly, even when something exciting such as an eclipse is happening. Doing so can cause irreversible damage to your eyesight and even lead to blindness.

2 million people in the UK are living with sight loss, that is severe enough to have a significant impact on their daily lives.

If you smoke you’re more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration, which is the most common cause of sight loss in the UK, and cataracts, than people who do not smoke.

When symptoms of age-related macular degeneration do occur, they can include:

Blurred vision or a blurry spot in your central vision
The need for more light to read or do other tasks
Straight line that look wavy
Trouble recognizing faces

Help keep your eyes healthy by stopping smoking.

There are many ways we can help:

Quit online - https://yorkshiresmokefree.nhs.uk/pages/quit-online

Our online quit tool will allow you to create your own personal profile and will support you on a daily basis through your quit journey.

Telephone support - our advisors are on hand to answer any questions or provide additional support as you need it. You can call 0800 612 0011 (free from landlines) or 0330 660 1166.

Visit our frequently asked questions section to find out more: https://yorkshiresmokefree.nhs.uk/frequently-asked-questions