The College of Optometrists

Dr Susan Blakeney, Optometric Adviser to the College of Optometrists, has appeared live on Channel Five’s Doctor Doctor twice during August, as part of the College’s ongoing public awareness-raising activity.

Following the College’s recent series of consumer media stories designed to highlight the importance of eye health and the role of the optometrist in its delivery, Channel Five approached the College for a spokesperson to appear on the show and examine Dr Mark Porter’s eyes.  GP Dr Porter co-hosts the daily show with consultant psychiatrist Dr Raj Persaud.

On the programme on 2 August, Dr Blakeney photographed Dr Porter’s fundus, using equipment loaned to the College by Topcon and talked briefly about a number of eye conditions including glaucoma and AMD.  She emphasised the importance of regular eye examinations, and the importance of being aware of what vision is “normal” for you in each eye. Dr Porter listed five “Top Tips” provided to the programme by the College. Feedback from the show’s producers rated Dr Blakeney’s performance as "one of the best so far", resulting in a second invitation - the only one of the series – this time to talk about cataract on 16 August.

These television appearances follow significant media coverage of four stories generated by the College from recent research it commissioned:

Terrible ‘eye-giene’ puts contact lens wearers at risk of blindness was based on research into the hygiene habits of contact lens wearers. Results revealed that one in five people lick their contact lenses before putting them in and two out of five people confessed to putting them in with dirty hands.

Kiss and Make-up? Eye'd rather not! was generated from research that highlighted ways in which women put their eye health at risk with more than 90% of them keeping their eye makeup for longer than recommended and a quarter of women sharing their eye makeup.

Cool sunglasses put eye health in the shade, followed, revealing that almost 80% of under 25 year olds base their choice of sunglasses on fashion and price as opposed to safety.

And Harry Potter works his magic on glasses – the College’s most recent story – identified that 15% of children who don’t wear spectacles say they would like to wear them and a further 24% would be happy either way, with the “Harry Potter effect” a major reason behind this remarkable result. 85% of children aged ten and under said that J.K. Rowling’s bespectacled boy wizard has ‘made glasses cooler’.

Over the last four months these stories have appeared in almost every national daily newspaper, in weekly and monthly lifestyle magazines, on numerous websites, local radio stations and newspapers and on national TV and radio, helping to raise awareness of the importance of eye health among members of the public. And the coverage continues to roll in daily, with a large feature in last week’s Reveal magazine.

Commenting on the success of the College’s awareness raising activity, Director of Member Services and Communications, Beth Elgood said “Raising public awareness of the importance of eye health and the role of the optometrist is a key element of the College’s strategy and has been at the heart of our recent activity. Sue’s appearances on Doctor Doctor came as a direct result of the College’s concerted effort to raise the profile of eye health and care with the media, and the response to those appearances has demonstrated a real interest to learn more among members of the public. We plan to build on the relationships we have established with journalists and researchers and make sure we keep eye health on the consumer media agenda”.