Looking after your eyes
This year’s National Eye Health Week, is set to take place next week from the 24th to 30th September 2018. Just like other awareness campaigns, this campaign aims to educate people on the importance of eye health. Explaining why we should all have a regular sight test.
People often fear losing their vision but are unsure of their eye care needs. National Eye Health Week aims to change this by educating people. Having said that, here are some of the interesting facts all about eye health and eyes.
- About 2 million people live with severe sight loss in the UK, significantly impacting their daily activities. In over 50% of these cases, sight loss is avoidable.
- A sight test can easily detect the early signs of eye conditions including glaucoma, which can be treated very quickly.
- During a sight test, other health conditions can be detected including diabetes and high blood pressure.
- Eating well can help maintain healthy eyes. Also avoiding smoking and wearing eye protection during bright sunlight helps to maintain good eye health.
- The importance of eyesight towards general overall wellbeing, independence and quality of life is too important to be ignored.
Eye care charities across the UK, health professionals and support organisations are all joining together this week. They are all working together to promote the importance of eye health and the need for regular tests.
Seeing a little further
Vision problems aside, eye tests can detect a large range of serious diseases. With over 100 years of combined experience, our Optometrists Claire, Sara and Steve know a thing or two about eye health. Our Dispensing Opticians Sheryl, Julia and Abigayle are experts in looking after your eyes health. The team are supporting and promoting National Eye Health Week to educate the people of Meltham and the surrounding areas of Holmfirth, Huddersfield and Saddleworth about the need to care for their eyes.
During an eye test at Allegro Optical, we take a retinal photograph of each eye. We do this for everyone, where possible, at no extra charge. In addition to retinal photography, we can now provide Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging, a non-invasive test which uses light waves to take cross-section and 3D pictures of your entire eye.
This state-of-the-art 3D technology takes 128 individual high-resolution scans of the back of the eye. It creates a detailed picture of either the optic nerve or the macula (central vision area). Every distinctive layer of the retina can be seen using these scans.
A new dimension in eyecare
Allegro Optical is the first opticians in Meltham to acquire this fantastic new type of high-tech equipment. Allowing the early detection of glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and other eye diseases. Studies show that Optical Coherence Tomography 3d eye scans may detect eye diseases earlier than conventional tests.
People are surprised when we tell them that 80% of blindness in the world is caused by what we call ‘back-of-the-eye’ diseases. Diseases such as Glaucoma, Diabetic retinopathy and AMD. But the good news is that 75% of blindness is preventable with regular check-ups and early detection.
Thanks to our new 3D eye scanner we can provide a complete assessment of the retina. This automatically compares it to a database of normal eyes to determine if there are any abnormal findings. If and when the exam shows even a suspicious finding, the customer is referred to an eye specialist for further investigation and treatment, if necessary.
Early diagnosis
The trick with these diseases is to catch them as early as possible, because often by the time any symptoms are noticed, such as blurry or spotted vision, decrease in peripheral vision, etc., the disease has already progressed into an advanced and irreversible stage. Our 3D eye scan can detect signs
of these diseases in their early symptomless stages when treatment can be more effective in stopping the progression of the disease.
A common misconception is that loss of vision or blindness only affects the elderly. But some of these diseases progress very slowly over years, starting at a relatively young age, so eye screening is important for everyone.
Another advantage of the 3D eye scan is that it records and saves the exam results so that when a customer comes back for his periodical follow up, the 3d eye scan automatically compares the results to the previous results to see if there has been any change in the retina since the last exam.
So don’t delay and book your comprehensive eye test today. Call 01484 907090 for your own peace of mind.
