National Eye Health Week urges return to regular eye checks

Eye Health UK launched its annual National Eye Health Week (September 18-24) to encourage people to resume regular eye tests, as data shows that 4.7 million sight tests have been lost following the pandemic. 

The campaign has come as health analysts predicted that a million more people in the UK would develop one of the four main causes of blindness in the next decade, however one in five have still cancelled or postponed their sight tests due to cost concerns. 

Cases of late-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD) were estimated to rise by 25% by 2032; early-stage AMD by 16%; cataract, 25%; glaucoma, 17% and diabetic retinopathy by 5%.