NEWS COPY By Astrid Hall A worrying number of middle-aged Brits have such bad eyesight they rely on ‘long-arm syndrome’ to see phone and tablet screens clearly. Researchers who polled 2,000 adults aged 45 plus found just under four in 10 have to resort to holding their device at arm's length to focus their eyes properly. Long-sightedness - which becomes more prevalent as we grow older - leaves many struggling to read small print. Text on medicine bottles, food labels,...Read more

Over 65s blind and partially sighted not receiving any social care support Almost 12,500 blind and partially sighted older people become casualties of the social care crisis Thousands of blind and partially sighted older people are not receiving any social care support, becoming the latest casualties of the social care crisis, according to Charities Age UK and RNIB. In the four financial years between 2008/2009 and 2012/2013, there was a 36.5% reduction in social care services to older people with...Read more

Smoking was found to pose the biggest modifiable risk to sight loss Eye health experts today marked National Eye Health Week (21 – 27 September) with a warning that unhealthy lifestyles are fuelling an alarming increase in avoidable sight loss as a new study published in the journal Ophthalmology(1) reveals lifestyle factors increase the risk of sight loss regardless of a person’s genetic make-up. The research, led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, used healthy lifestyle scores based on...Read more