Dr Alex Silvester
Chief Medical Officer at SpaMedica
Early intervention and proactive eye care support people to stay independent and active for longer. Learn how to keep an eye on your eye health.
As life expectancy increases, the focus of healthy ageing is shifting beyond living longer to maintaining quality of life. For Dr Alex Silvester, Ophthalmologist and Chief Medical Officer at SpaMedica, maintaining eye health is an essential component of ageing well.
“Vision is an important part of wider quality of life outcomes, affecting our ability to drive and maintain our independence,” he explains. “As people are living longer, it is becoming extremely important to protect anything which affects their overall wellbeing.”
Poor vision is commonly associated with higher rates of depression and anxiety. Increasing rates of social isolation and risk of falls, all of which have a significant impact on an individual’s independence and wellbeing as they age.
The eye can give us an insight into what’s happening elsewhere in the body.
A window into wider health outcomes
The eye can give us an insight into what’s happening elsewhere in the body. While physical symptoms may not be present, there can be telltale signs in the eye. “When we look at the back of the eye, we can pick up signs of systemic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension,” says Dr Silvester.
With oculomics set to grow significantly over the next five to 10 years in line with advancing technology, the eyes could become increasingly important in understanding and predicting wider health outcomes. This emerging area of science uses state of the eyes alongside AI to identify potential signs of disease elsewhere in the body. “This is an extremely exciting area, and as algorithms continue to develop, so will identify people at increased risk of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, and even some cancers.”
Don’t dismiss changes to your vision as you age
Many people associate changes to their vision as part of the natural ageing process, but Dr Silvester challenges this assumption, advocating for a proactive approach to eye care. “Many eye conditions that appear as we age are reversible, or their progression can be stopped if we identify them early enough,” he explains.
“Sometimes, it can be little changes such as things not being quite as clear, colours not appearing ‘quite right’, words changing on the page as you read or lights glaring when you drive at night,” he continues. “We shouldn’t accept such deteriorating vision as an inevitable part of getting older; these things need to be assessed.”
Treatable and transformative
Cataracts are a good example of a condition where we can make a difference. “The cloudy lens can be removed, and for many people, this can transform how they see and how they live their everyday lives,” says Dr Silvester. While it can be daunting, cataract surgery is a well-established and straightforward procedure that can help people return to their everyday activities quickly. SpaMedica, the UK’s largest provider of cataract surgery, receives excellent patient feedback, and 97.58% of patients achieve 6/12 visual acuity or better following surgery, an effective driving standard.
A preventative approach to eye health
Eye Health UK estimates that around 19 million British people fail to have regular eye tests, including 2.5 million people over the age of 65, who should be having an eye exam annually as a minimum. Dr Silvester explains: “People must understand that going for an eye test is about much more than checking whether you need glasses. Modern optometry has access to increasingly sophisticated technology that can help identify signs of eye disease and detect problems at an earlier stage.”
“Early detection gives us a much better opportunity to protect someone’s sight and quality of life. Conditions such as glaucoma may have no obvious symptoms until significant damage has occurred, highlighting the importance of prevention and early detection. ‘The earlier we identify a problem, the more opportunity we have to treat it effectively and prevent further deterioration,’ he concludes.”
