Blindingly obvious

Two million 'risking blindness' the headlines scream in all the national papers, on the internet and on the telly.

This was the national media's response to the latest Royal National Institute of the Blind's high impact eye care campaign which urges the Government to promote the importance of eye tests in the battle against conditions such as diabetes and glaucoma.

Pretty powerful stuff and possibly the first time many people will have made the link between the security of their vision and a trip to the optician.
The campaign, arguably in optics' remit, is unlike anything the optical profession has undertaken of late. Not just because it has commanded such fantastic news coverage, but because it majors on the public's worst fears.

While the RNIB feeds on the fear among 90 per cent of the population that they could lose their sight through ignorance and inactivity, the optical fraternity seems averse to controversy for fear of upsetting its customers.

No one in optics would argue with the fact that the combination of an ageing population and falling attendance at eye examinations makes for a worrying picture. But how many in optics would say that ignorance is robbing people of their sight every day, talk of an explosion of disease or that thousands of people are losing their sight needlessly?

With a quarter of over-60s not having regular eye tests and less than half of 24 to 35-year-olds attending for an eye test in the last two years, availability and cost of eye care is not the issue. There is simply no connection within the public between healthy eyes and a visit to the optician and the RNIB wants to address that issue.

Its campaign is headed up with an emotive and disturbing shot of a young woman with an apparent corneal dystrophy - not to everyone's taste but effective none the less. Optics take note.