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Britons have been urged to book urgent eye exams by the Eyecare Trust, which has warned that undiagnosed glaucoma could cost the sight of hundreds of thousands of people every year.
According to the national charity, quarter-of-a-million Britons are at risk of going blind as a result of undiagnosed glaucoma - which affects the optic nerve and causes irreversible sight loss.
The Eyecare Trust's stark warning comes ahead of World Glaucoma Day, which takes place tomorrow (March 12th).
Iain Anderson, chairman of the Eyecare Trust said: "Early detection of the condition through routine sight testing is vital for the successful treatment of glaucoma which, when caught early, can often be easily managed and arrested using eye drops or in certain cases laser treatment."
"Unfortunately all too often glaucoma sufferers visit their optician when the condition is advanced and it's too late to save loss of vision," he added.
But early glaucoma detection is not the only benefit of attending regular eye examinations.
According to the Royal National Institute of Blind People, which offers support to both blind and partially-sighted people in the UK, some five million people in the UK suffer from myopia (short-sightedness) and of those a further 200,000 will have a severe form of the condition.
The charity notes that people with high degree myopia may be more susceptible to cataracts and glaucoma.
Regular eye examinations will highlight myopia quickly and appropriate action can then be taken.
One solution to the growing problem of myopia is the use of Ortho K corrective contact lenses, which reshape a person's eye during the night, correcting their problem and offering them perfect vision during the day without the need for glasses or standard contact lenses.
The overnight correction lenses offer many of the benefits of
laser eye surgery, without any of the potentially permanent side effects such as haloing or vision loss.
Eye Health: Find out if i-GO over night contact lenses will suit you.
By Will Stevenson
