NEWS
Children’s eyecare initiative
Polly Dulley is chair of this national group, run by the Optical Confederation. The aim of the group is to improve eyecare for ALL children. This means trying to get the message across to both parents and teachers that eyecare is vital for all children. In the UK, just 53% of children have ever had any kind of eye examination, and this means that one in five children have an undetected vision problem.
Many parents assume that children’ss eyes are still checked at school, but this is simply not the case, in many parts of the UK. They also think that a child will complain if they have a vision problem, but many children don’st realise they have a problem, because they have no idea of what is normal.
So far, Polly has written a letter to the head teachers of 23,000 schools in the UK, asking for help from teachers in encouraging parents to get their children’ss eyes checked, and offering help and resources to improve understanding and knowledge about eyes and eyecare.
Many children who come to Aves already have been used in filming and for interviews in both local and national newspapers, telling their own story of why regular eyecare is so important and how it has changed their lives.
If your children haven’st had an eye examination, book them in today. It’ss free and it might make a huge difference to your child’ss development. Children who can’st see clearly find it more difficult to learn and play!
Prescription Sunglasses
Protecting our eyes from the sun’ss harmful rays is vital. Eye conditions such as cataract and macular degeneration are both more likely in people who don’st protect their eyes from the sun. Aves stock a wide range of both non-prescription and prescription sunglasses. A complete pair of prescription sunglasses costs as little as £99, so do pop in and have a look. Be ready for the sunshine!
Specialist glaucoma screening
Glaucoma is notoriously difficult to diagnose and many people are referred to the eye department at their local hospital as a result of high pressure readings at the opticians, only to find that they do not have glaucoma.
At Aves, we have invested in equipment, mainly used in hospital eye departments, to help improve our ability to find glaucoma. As well as the commonly used ‘air puff’ procedure for measuring pressure in the eyes, we also have a gold standard tonometer, as used in hospitals, for more accurate pressure readings. If your pressure readings are high, we will always measure them again, using this more accurate device. Recent research has shown that eye pressure can be linked to corneal thickness, and that particularly thin or thick corneas are likely to give ‘false’ pressure readings. Hospitals now regularly measure corneal thickness, using a specialist instrument, called a pachymeter, to see if corneal thickness is playing a part in the pressure readings.
We are also able to offer this additional service at Aves, enabling us to be more precise in our interpretation of your eye pressures. Visual fields are a measurement of peripheral vision, and is useful in diagnosis of glaucoma, as peripheral vision is affected long before central vision in glaucoma. Hospitals use very sophisticated visual field testing equipment, in order to assess and discover the very earliest visual field loss in glaucoma and other eye conditions. Aves have also invested in this very latest technology, in order to offer our patients the very best advice regarding risk of developing glaucoma.
YOU SAID IT
"...you were brilliant as ever, just as I expected!"
Mrs L.G.
