Eye Check-ups: An Overlooked Necessity for Alicante Residents

El 90% of the information reaching the human brain comes through the visual channel, highlighting the importance of sight. Despite this, eye check-ups seem to be a low priority for many Alicante residents, even though annual eye exams are recommended from the age of 40.

David Pablo Piñero Llorens, a professor in the Department of Optics, Pharmacology, and Anatomy at the University of Alicante, has been conducting free eye examinations this Tuesday at the Séneca space in Alicante. This initiative is part of a campaign to raise awareness about eye health, organized in collaboration with the Alicante City Council, the Alió Foundation, and the University of Alicante.

"We have encountered people who have not had their vision checked for over six years. This indicates that it is an overlooked necessity," noted Piñero. Alongside other volunteer professors and students from the fourth year and master's degree in Optics and Optometry at the University of Alicante, they conducted vision tests on nearly 200 people throughout the day.

According to María López Iglesias, director of the Alió Foundation, the campaign targeted the elderly population, although anyone interested could undergo the tests. These included eye pressure tests, visual acuity exams, slit-lamp tests (which allow analysis of the eye's components), and fundus exams to examine the retina.

This comprehensive diagnostic circuit helps identify conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, dry eye, and glaucoma. The campaign organizers emphasize the latter condition, which affects women over 45 more frequently and is the second leading cause of blindness in Western countries.

Professor Piñero Llorens states that in a campaign like the one held this Tuesday, glaucoma can be detected in up to 10% of cases, although its prevalence in the population is 3%.

Experts refer to it as the silent blindness because, in most cases and in its early stages, it does not present symptoms such as pain or vision loss. "With this campaign, we aim to detect conditions like glaucoma in their early stages before their effects become irreversible," explains the director of the Alió Foundation.