Madam, - Your Health Supplement of September 21st carried an item under the headline: "Sight at Risk" and referred to the desirability of those over the age of 55 having a regular eye check.
Optometrists (ophthalmic opticians) who conduct the vast majority of eye examinations for the adult population - including those most at risk from age-related macular degeneration - support this call.
We agree also that sight tests are not of themselves sufficient but can be an important part of patient records. The education and training of optometrists is significantly concerned with the understanding and detection of pathology; eye examinations by ophthalmologists are not the only route to the detection of the early signs of diseases such as AMD.
Our contracts with the health boards and the Department of Social and Family Affairs to provide eye examinations for eligible persons require us to detect and refer any pathology for appropriate attention. The more recent Opticians Amendment Act clarifies our entitlement to the use of certain drugs in our eye examinations and this assists us in fulfilling our statutory obligation to detect and refer any pathology or indications of such.
The general entitlement of eligible persons is for an eye examination every two years. Both contracts, however, provide for more frequent examinations in the case of clinical necessity and these entitlements are available to all age groups, not just the over-55s. - Yours, etc.,
KEVIN P. CULLITON,
Honorary Secretary,
Association of Optometrists,
Ireland,
Dublin 6W.