EYES RIGHT!                                            Richard J B Willis

'Eyes right' is a form of salute in the armed forces when a squad passes an officer and smartly, on command, turn their heads in his or her direction.  However, eyes right could just as easily be a catchword to remind drivers of their need to take regular eye tests.

Sight-testing is particularly important for drivers aged over 45.  A new campaign is being launched aimed at motorists in that are range not so much to identify people with either far- or short-sight but to catch eye disease before it becomes a problem.  Special laminated cards are being produced for vehicle test centres, and even for schools since the earlier that eye disease is diagnosed the better the hope of complete recovery. 

Students at the Royal College of Arts are co-operating in the campaign by designing eye-catching (pun intended!) materials which will help to bring home the message to the driving public.  One such sign depicts a series of car numbers – appropriate to the target group – which may well do the trick.  See how you manage with the following: [5TOP] [H1DD3N] [3Y3] [D153A53] [TAK3] [AN] [3Y3] [T35T].

This is not, of course, a diagnostic tool but a reminder that eye-testing is important.  Some years ago when conducting a medical for employment in the Dockyard, I asked a man to cover one of his eyes and face the sight chart.  He promptly turned right and peered sideways out of the corner of his left eye.  Apparently it was the only way that he could see ahead!

It is not only eye disease as such that is worrying the investigators.  They are concerned about the effects of prescribed medications on normal eye sight, and the timing and dosage of these drugs on motoring ability.  Drugs aside, the research shows that lifestyle and not genes have a bigger role to play in the development of eye conditions such as myopia.

A new craze in the Netherlands is to have minute jewellery embedded in the eyeball.  Star and heart-shaped pieces of platinum about a millimetre in size are now adding 'sparkle in your eye' in fashionable quarters.  Since they serve no medical purpose, the operation was not trialed in any way to determine safety.  This kind of cosmetic application rather like body-piercing does not fall into a regulatory framework so it is not known if there are long-term effects.

One cannot help but think that the sparkle in the eye should come from within given that the eyes are the window of the soul.  So [3Y3S] [8I6H7] then and salute the Creator of the windows!