PREVENTING VISION LOSS
THE NUMBERS ARE STAGGERING. MORE THAN 5.5 MILLION CANADIANS HAVE
A MAJOR EYE DISEASE THAT CAN CAUSE FULL OR PARTIAL BLINDNESS DOWN
THE ROAD. AND EACH YEAR IN CANADA, ABOUT 50,000 PEOPLE WILL LOSE THEIR
EYESIGHT, JOINING THE HALF-MILLION OTHER CANADIANS WHO HAVE ALREADY
EXPERIENCED VISION LOSS THAT IS SIGNIFICANT ENOUGH TO IMPACT THEIR
QUALITY OF LIFE.
By Denis Langlois
But according to the Canadian National Institute
for the Blind, which compiled those statistics, that
annual count doesn't have to be so high.
The registered charity says about 75 per cent of
vision loss is avoidable through treatment and prevention. And like eye-care professionals have been
telling people for decades, the CNIB says the best
way to avoid vision loss is to have regular checkups
with an ECP; the earlier the diagnosis, the greater
the chance to minimize damage.
"Regular checkups can allow the detection of these
diseases that could otherwise cause vision loss. Early
diagnosis and treatment can help prevent vision
loss," says Dr. Keith Gordon, vice-president of
research at the CNIB.
Routine checkups are especially important for the
baby boomer generation, since all major eye
diseases are diseases of older people, according to
28 Optical Prism | October 2015
Gordon. Age-related macular degeneration, the
leading cause of vision loss in Canada, mostly
affects people over the age of 60. The same is true
for glaucoma and cataracts.
Diabetic retinopathy typically begins when a person
is in their 50s. The CNIB estimates that the prevalence of vision loss in Canada will increase by nearly
30 per cent within the next decade, due largely to
the demographic shift caused by the country's
aging population.
Even though ECPs have been trying to drive home
the importance of regular eye exams, the CNIB has
found that a dichotomy exists between what people
say and what they do.
A National Vision Health Report, commissioned
by the CNIB this spring, found that 92 per cent of
respondents believe that eye exams are an important
part of their overall health maintenance.