BBR Optometry is supporting this year’s National Glaucoma Awareness Week (12-18 June 2017) campaign that aims to highlight the importance of regular eye examinations and eye pressure checks.

The International Glaucoma Association knows many people realise they need to check the pressure in their car tyres and their blood pressure but not so many are aware about the impoeye rtance of their eye pressure.

That is why this year’s campaign aims to educate people about the importance of eye pressure as part of a regular eye health check, as raised pressure can indicate Glaucoma. If detected early, Glaucoma can be managed and useful sight can usually be maintained throughout life with irreversible loss of vision prevented.

Nick Black, chief executive at BBR Optometry, says: “It is eye pressure that keeps the eye inflated and if it is too high it can lead to irreversible damage to the optic nerve leading to loss of vision.

“People have such a limited knowledge about the health of their eyes. All too often we hear that people do not have an eye health check until they realise that something is wrong with their vision. 

“This is too late for Glaucoma as a significant amount of vision will be lost before symptoms present and it can never be recovered. Even though there an estimated 64 million people with Glaucoma worldwide, and 600,000 in the UK, half of the cases remain undetected.

“Glaucoma is known as the silent thief of sight for a good reason, as the brain fills in the missing parts of vision and it isn’t until there is significant sight loss that a person thinks to visit an optometrist who can help to detect what is happening,” he added.

BBR recommends all patients have regular eye examinations, as often as recommended by their optometrist, and these will include testing for Glaucoma by retinal imaging of the optic nerve.

Nick adds: “Here at BBR we have the latest technology such as OCT imaging. This allows us to scan the optic nerve in detail so any potential health issues such as Glaucoma are diagnosed as early as possible as this ensures the best outcomes for patients,” he added.

If your eye examination is due then please make an appointment now by calling us on 01432 265030 and find out more about retinal imaging here.