Are you making this major health mistake?

When it comes to keeping your health in check, most people simply focus on getting enough exercise, eating the right foods and treating any symptoms that persist with medication.

However, there is one health check that so many fail to do and it’s starting to have a serious effect on our future.

That is, getting regular eye tests – are you guilty of being one of the four in ten Australians who have not had an eye test in the last year?

If so, you might want to change up your habits because Specsavers have just revealed the shocking statistic that by 2020, over 270,000 Australians will experience vision loss or blindness due to an eye condition that could have been managed or prevented with a 20-minute routine eye check.

In fact, vision loss is expected to become the most common condition present amongst older
Australians in years to come, affecting 50 percent of people over the age of 50.

The study that analysed over six million people found that the most common conditions will stem from cataracts, followed by macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic eye disease – all of which can be asymptomatic and prevented or reduced.

Not only is this expected to cost the economy $16.6 billion per year yet you might also find yourself one of the unlucky ones that have to start paying to see – an ability we often take for granted.

Traces of glaucoma were found in 30,000 Australians over the past year, which more than doubles those detected in the year prior.

However, the higher rate of detection isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it proves just how much technology is advancing to provide optometry benchmarking.

Moving forward, Annie Gibbins, CEO of Glaucoma Australia says routine eye tests are the first port of call for many who end up with preventable but irreversible blinding eye conditions and so is calling on others to value their eye health by getting their eyes examined by an optometrist.

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