This is What The Experts Are Saying On World Sight Day

ByCasey Fitzgerald

You visit the doctor for regular health check-ups, and you visit the dentist for your teeth, but how often do you consider your eye health?

Children and adults are recommended to get comprehensive eye examinations AT LEAST once a year, and in some cases more frequently, if there are underlying conditions… Who knew?!

This info coincides with World Sight Day, an International Day of Awareness marked annually for the global issue of eye health. This October, to recognise the importance of the day, Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai is raising awareness of blindness and vision impairment as a major global public health issue.

Moorfields is shouting its #Loveyoureyes campaign from the rooftops to encourage regular check-ups!

The campaign brings awareness to your eye health and how to maintain it.

GET. YOUR. EYES. CHECKED!

That’s the word from the experts, considering nearly one BILLION eye issues could be solved with early detection and that number is only rising.

2.2 billion people suffer near or distance vision impairment and almost half of these cases could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed.

The number of people with visual impairment and blindness from 2020 to 2050 is estimated to increase by approximately 90% and 50%, respectively according to a 2022 population-based report on the prevalence and causes of visual impairment amongst Emiratis and non-Emiratis in Dubai.

The study showed that of the 892 participants in the study, the most common principal cause of visual impairment found among Emiratis and non-Emiratis was an uncorrected refractive error (URE), followed by cataracts for bilateral visual impairment. (URE is responsible for over 52% of the causes of bilateral visual impairment among Emiratis. Other less common causes included diabetic retinopathy, optic atrophy, and corneal opacity.*)