Last night’s edition of The 7PM Project featured a story on the importance of regular eye examinations for everyone, not just the elderly. The show reported that every 65 minutes an Australian loses some or all of their vision, and every year 10,000 Australians will go blind.
Kirk Pengilly from INXS was in his twenties when he almost lost his sight to glaucoma. He started seeing halos around lights at night, and put it down to conjunctivitis or too much partying, but he was fortunate enough to have an eye test and was diagnosed with glaucoma before he lost too much of his vision. Around 75% of vision loss is treatable if detected early enough, yet too many Australians forgo regular eye examinations. Kirk became an ambassador of The Eye Foundation in 2007.
The Eye Foundation hopes to stress the importance of regular eye checkups with their julEYE campaign. The Eye Foundation recommends an examination at least every 3-5 years through childhood to early adulthood, then every two years after the age of 40.
The segment of The 7PM Project featuring the story can be watched here, the story itself starting at 3:26.
