Permanent Vision Loss or Eye Health Is A Top Health Concern For A Majority of Baby Boomers

Permanent Vision Loss or Eye Health Is A Top Health Concern For A Majority of Baby Boomers. According to recent surveys, Baby Boomers are more concerned about losing their vision than they are about losing their memory, physical mobility and other attributes of personal independence as they mature.

They fear a loss or decline in vision, far more than losing their teeth. Yet even though the survey showed that it was a Baby Boomer Top concern, only a little over a third of those surveyed felt that regular visits to an eye care professional were more important than regular dental check-ups.

What does this tell us? This research tells us that Baby Boomers value their vision, yet the
importance of preventative eye care is missing for many of these maturing Baby Boomers.

Optometrists say that among all age groups, there is a great need for awareness about
the importance of regular eye examinations. But as Baby Boomers, that is heightened by our aging process.

Loss of eye sight can mean many things and can even be a sign of something more serious. As was the case with Saskatoon artist, Don Hefner, who knows only too well about the importance of preventative eye care. His visit to his optometrist may well have saved his life. Dramatic but true. A routine eye exam led his optometrist to suspect that something further was wrong. It turned out that he had a brain tumor. Luckily, surgery kept more permanent damage from occurring.

Yet, in spite of near unanimous concern about loss of vision, Baby Boomers are still not seeking the advice of an optometrist for preventative care. Close to one fourth of maturing Baby Boomers, believe that they would be the first to know if they had an eye problem, and more than 30 per cent were unaware that you could have 20/20 vision and still have an eye disease that only an optometrist could detect. Eye health experts say Baby Boomers avoiding eye tests could be setting themselves up for serious eye disease.

Beyond examining vision and eye health, optometrists also have the
ability to diagnose serious eye diseases like glaucoma. Glaucoma as you know is known as the silent vision thief. Yet almost 50 percent of maturing Baby Boomers are not aware that optometrists can detect eye diseases like glaucoma. More importantly, many Baby Boomers are unaware that early detection and treatment can help prevent blindness or control serious eye disease.

Bottom line, Permanent Vision Loss or Eye Health Is A Top Health Concern For A Majority of Baby Boomers. So, get in there for those yearly checkups, Baby Boomers. We want you to be able to read BBAC for a long time.