National Glaucoma Week - The 'Silent Thief' Of Sight

National Glaucoma Week - The 'Silent Thief' Of Sight

This week, 10th June to 16th June, is National Glaucoma Week in the UK. Ask a football fan what glaucoma means to them and they'll more than likely say Edgar Davids, the international star, easily recognisable by his thick rimmed goggles which he wore during games as a sufferer of the condition. Delve a little deeper and that might be most peoples limit as to what the condition actually means to them. Such awareness weeks are important to highlight how diseases affect people, the symptoms and thus treatments via larger scale testing.

With the subject of increased testing in mind, Optegra, are looking to push the importance of regular eye tests to indentify early symptoms of the disease and other eye conditions. With many people still viewing eye examinations as only necessary when required, conditions such as glaucoma can develop undetected until more advanced stages, making treatment more difficult. The specialist eye care group are hoping that this week will convince many to adopt the recommended yearly eye exam rule, to combat the 'silent thief' of vision, so called due to the prolonged period of time that glaucoma can be present before symptoms occur, leading to preventable vision loss.

  • Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness, not just vision deterioration
  • Glaucoma is currently incurable
  • The disease can affect any age group, not just the elderly as is commonly thought
  • Many sufferers are unaware of their condition due to the fact that it doesn't show many symptoms and the large percentage of the public that don't attend regular eye check ups