Have you registered for your free annual eye check?
In Ireland, following years of campaigning, by the Diabetes Community, we now have a high quality diabetes retinopathy screening programme, called Diabetic RetinaScreen, which offers free annual screening to every person with diabetes over 12 years of age. Sadly many of our community in Ireland have still not registered with the programme and are not accessing this vital nationwide service.
Today on World Sight Day, if you have not already done so, we would urge you to register with Diabetic RetinaScreen; who will offer you a free appointment in a matter of weeks.
To register, simply call
1800 45 45 55
or logon to their website www.diabeticretinascreen.ie and click “Register for Screening”, and add your details, your GP can also do this on your behalf.
Act Today.
review-of-diabetes-and-diabetic-retinopathy
Today, on World Sight Day, the International Diabetes Federation European Region (IDF Europe) joins the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) in its campaign “Stronger together” to raise awareness of blindness and vision impairment as major international public health issues and asks for the implementation of the World Health Organisation Global Action Plan for universal Eye Health 2014-2019 at country level in Europe.
Diabetic retinopathy: a common yet devastating complication
Among the debilitating complications of diabetes, diabetic retinopathy, if not caught early can sadly become one of the most severe, dramatic yet common ones, caused by consistently high levels of blood glucose; the risk increases if this is accompanied by high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Currently, diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness in working age adults, even in developed countries.
Diabetic retinopathy does NOT have symptoms in its early stages; in a considerable number of cases, even until late stages people may not know they have it until visual impairment affects their daily life. Screening for retinopathy in asymptomatic persons with diabetes is therefore crucial.
