Typically, when we think of the NHS, marathon waits in A&E and delays to outpatient appointments because of patient demand outstretching service supply spring to mind.
Although the NHS provides free eye tests for children, research shows that despite the NHS General Ophthalmic Services contract, some practices are excluding children and resisting examining them.
Reasons are multifactorial, as discussed in our article, Parents and children's vision: the opportunity for optometrists, which includes recommendations on how this issue can be urgently addressed. This really matters because children rarely tell you they can’t see and just assume that everyone is seeing a blurred world.
Taking children for routine eye tests should ensure all common problems are picked up early. Ideally, we want all children to be able to say: “I can see clearly now” – echoing the words of Johnny Nash.
Sometimes a routine eye test may spot serious conditions, such as neurofibromatosis. NF1 is associated with a range of ocular conditions. Detecting NF1 in children is crucial so that they can be properly monitored and receive medical care and educational support, and to ensure complications can be picked up early. Neurofibromatosis type 1: what optometrists need to know is an informative read, explaining how this condition is diagnosed and currently managed. Patients with NF1 should be evaluated and treated by a multidisciplinary team containing neurologists, geneticists and ophthalmologists. Optometrists have an important supportive role to play where regular monitoring, helping to alleviate parents’ anxiety about their children’s vision, is key to successful clinical management.
Not everyone gets away with blurry vision and a new pair of spectacles. Some, including children, lose vision entirely – or even an eye. This leads us to prosthetic eye management, which is another underdiscussed and underutilised part of eye care. Artificial eyes are required by a range of patients affected by cancer, congenital conditions and traumatic injury. The article Prosthetic aesthetics: supporting patients physically and psychologically describes the manufacture of today’s ocular prostheses, which are impressively realistic and are increasingly using 3D digital printing technology.
For some, frosty mornings and dark nights are a welcome change after a long hot summer. For others, the winter months are synonymous with low mood, lethargy and reduced energy levels. Simon and Garfunkel’s lyric “Hello darkness, my old friend” sums up the feeling of winter blues with poetic gloom. The article How to avoid the winter blues gives a valuable insight into the winter blues, as opposed to seasonal affective disorder (SAD), how to spot it in yourself and others, and what can be done to tackle it successfully. David Burke, mental health first aid instructor, gives invaluable advice. In particular he emphasises the importance of getting outside and taking regular exercise, with light being fundamental to wellbeing. So, I conclude, “Don’t let the sun go down on me” (Elton John) – or you.
