It may be that National Eye Health Week (NEHW) is on the horizon or it may be the aging population driving vision up in the public consciousness but optics is making it into the news quite a bit at the moment.
It would be lovely to be able to say the public has finally got the message about the value of an eye examination, hopefully that is something NEHW (September 19-25) will help foment. Sadly it’s not.
The Daily Mail may have its critics in the science community but it does a nice line in optical – for that read ophthalmology – stories. This week we have been treated to robotic removal of retina covering membranes, cataract operations helping your sleep patterns all in addition to its cataract waiting campaign praised by Verum a couple of weeks ago.
Of course television is the really powerful medium so it didn’t hurt to see Dr Michael Mosley confounded by his own scepticism over the efficacy of eye supplements. After just a few weeks popping the carotenoids Dr M, the human guinea pig, was extolling their virtues. The fact that a pretty experienced medic, such as Dr Mosley, was so surprised pretty much says all there is say about the inclusion of optometry into mainstream medicine.
Once again it has been left to the multiples to wave the flag for high street optometry with major television advertising campaigns by both Specsavers and Vision Express majoring on the health aspects of a visit to the optician.
Specsavers even enlisted the help of Penny Lancaster in its bid for media coverage after a tie up with the RNIB. As mentioned above NEHW is almost upon us so every practice now has the opportunity to do its bit for raising the profession’s profile – contact your local newspaper and invite them in.