Plea to have early eye tests
Out of 131 people who have received free eye-tests in a programme jointly hosted by the League of Friends of The Blind (Lofob) and the Torga Optical company at Mitchells Plain Promenade Mall, 18% were referred to hospitals for treatment of sight-threatening conditions.
The programme, conducted on Tuesdays to Thursdays this month, focuses on stopping preventable blindness occurring, said Torga Optical optometrist Ridge Putter.
Highlighting the 18%, and recalling that they had referred to hospitals 20% to 24% of the 400 people they tested in last year’s eye scanning programme, Putter said: “The point we are trying to make is to have your eyes seen to early, to avoid vision loss. Don’t wait until it feels uncomfortable (to be able to see clearly).
“The thing with most eye diseases is that once damage sets in it’s a one-way journey. With some eye conditions there is nothing we can do about it, but with others we can help.
"That’s why we have to intervene and assist as soon as possible. What I’m helping them with (in testing) is identifying at an early stage those people most at risk of a threat to their vision.”
Putter explained that the most common conditions they detected among the people they tested were cataracts, glaucoma, diabetes and retinopathy, with cataracts usually being age-related, but also occurring as a result of medication or environmental exposure.
“This year they were all pretty early conditions (that we referred). Last year we had people coming at late stages where nothing could be done,” said Putter.
He said, however, that what made some of those conditions dangerous was that they were painless, with sufferers not feeling any immediate discomfort.
The reason why people were not having their eyes tested, he said, was ignorance of the need for eye-care and the risk of vision loss.