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A recent New Year shARP interview has fed back findings that there is a serious lack of knowledge amongst British citizens as to the most common cause of blindness in our country. The Simplyhealth Advisory Research Panel took a cross section of the public and interviewed one thousand of them aged between forty and seventy five and focused on their approach and dealing with vision and the examination of their eye health. Out of the thousand participants, eighty of them were yet to see an optician at a practice and one in seven were current drivers who had substandard vision. Shockingly, almost half of the sample had reported a change in their normal eye sight but had not made an appointment to have their vision checked by a professional.One out of every eight persons " borrowed " glasses to be able to read a street sign and a menu while one in five declined to attempt to read either and instead asked for someone to read them on their behalf.When it was inquired as to why participants had not turned to an eye health professional for assistance when they clearly could recognize a deterioration, the researchers were told that it was widely accepted that failing vision was down to the normal aging process and as such was to be accepted.
The concern over the cost of seeking medical assistance was the other main deterrent.
Only one per cent of the group were able to correctly identify that age related macular degeneration was the most common cause of sight loss in the UK proving once again that education in promoting awareness of such diseases and the necessity for long term eye exams to be kept up is still needing extra push from providers.