Vision Care highlights importance of regular eye testing on World Sight Day 2020

Vision Care, Sri Lanka’s largest eye care service provider, is marking World Sight Day 2020 under the global theme “Hope in Sight” by highlighting the importance of regular eye testing irrespective of a person’s age. 

Globally, as many as 1 billion people live with a preventable visual impairment or one that has yet to be identified or addressed. Reduced or absent eyesight can have significant and long-lasting negative impact on all aspects of an individual's life. Day-to-day events such as activities around the house, interacting with the community, attending school, finding employment opportunities and accessing public services are all greatly hindered by such eyesight problems. Such vision impairment is a critical barrier for millions around the world from growing and achieving their true potential in life. 

As Sri Lanka’s leading eye care provider, Vision Care offers comprehensive eye care solutions for customers to get their vision tested. Vision Care’s professional optometrists use only state-of-the-art equipment in order to test and correct any diagnosed impairment so that customers can return home to enjoy an enhanced quality of life. Vision Care has been at the forefront of the technological revolution in eye care in Sri Lanka for a number of years by providing high-quality Eye Testing, Spectacles, Sunglasses, Contact lenses and Eye Surgeon Consultation. All Vision Care staff members have undergone specialised training on how to safely interact with a customer. They use all possible safety precautions and maintain social distancing whenever possible. All equipment is sanitised both before and after every customer visit.

Sharing his thoughts, Harsha Maduranga – General Manager of Vision Care stated, “There is a tendency for the general public to take eyesight for granted. There is much less emphasis placed on regular eye checkups while everyone is generally ready to do regular tests for sugar, cholesterol or blood pressure. It is important that eyesight is checked regularly starting from childhood all the way to a person’s senior years. Primary eye examinations are a great way to get children used to having their eyes checked regularly. The public must realise that many types of visual impairments can be identified and managed if necessary testing is done regularly. There is no need for them to suffer unnecessarily when they can easily walk into a Vision Care outlet nearest to them and get their eyes checked by experienced eye care professionals who use state-of-the-art equipment to diagnose any vision problems with high precision. It is important to remember that regular eyesight checks are for all ages and parents have a special responsibility to check the eyesight of their children from a young age.”

Statistics reveal that an estimated 253 million people globally live with vision impairment out of which 36 million are blind and 217 million have moderate to severe vision impairment. While the leading causes of vision impairment and blindness are uncorrected refractive errors and cataracts, the majority of people with vision impairment and blindness are over the age of 50 years. Several factors can cause reduced eyesight in an individual. These include diseases like diabetes and trachoma, trauma to the eyes, or conditions such as refractive error, cataracts, age-related macular degeneration or glaucoma. While the majority of people with vision impairment are over the age of 50 years, vision loss can affect people of all ages. As a result, Vision Care always places special emphasis on eye health amongst children and possesses the expertise to tackle these and other eyesight conditions.