Vision Van highlights lack of eye health awareness

Vision Express has warned of an epidemic in sight issues as it revealed over a fifth of visitors to its Vision Van had never had a sight test.

During World Glaucoma Week (March 13-17) the Vision Van toured the UK offering free sight tests to residents in Manchester, York, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stockton-On-Tees.

Data collected during the week revealed over 70% of visitors were not maintaining regular eye tests and 47% of those tested needed a new prescription. In Edinburgh, 73% of residents were unaware of free sight tests available in Scotland.

Vision Express CEO Jonathan Lawson said: ‘If our figures are reflective of the national picture then we could soon have an epidemic of people suffering from sight-stealing conditions. We hit a record number of daily online bookings in the week following the tour which shows there’s a real need for initiatives like this that raise awareness of the conditions an eye test can detect.’