The IAPB World Sight Day 2022 Photo Competition is an opportunity for amateur and professional photographers to demonstrate their skills and share with the world what they see and what it means to #LoveYourEyes.

Since its inception in 2015, the IAPB World Sight Day Photo Competition has highlighted the importance of eye health, by shining a light on the social and economic impact of vison loss, and to celebrate the tireless efforts of those who work to ensure healthy vision for all.

The contest is looking for images that capture the range of what it means to have healthy vision. There are five categories:

YOUR EYES
A picture capturing subject(s) receiving eye health services or care. This category showcases the importance of eye health, rehabilitation and access to services.

EVERYONE EVERYWHERE
A portrait of an individual – can be posed or observed. This category demonstrates how each individual counts and has right to be included – regardless of gender, age, ability, health, economic status or location.

HEALTH FOR ALL
A picture capturing subjects delivering health services. Health professionals, eye health and otherwise, are champions – pre-pandemic, during and post pandemic. This category celebrates their tireless efforts to ensure no one is left behind.

HOPE
A picture that captures the magic of a moment. This category reminds us that during this time in history, there is joy, and hope for the future.

EYE-SIGHTS
This category celebrates the intimate connection between photography and eyes. Entrants are asked to capture their own ‘Eye-sights’ as a reminder to all of us to #LoveYourEyes. Eye-sights can be anything in our everyday life that resembles an eye, like a cloud formation, a landscape or a random object.

Photo Submission

Click HERE for the press release.

“The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Vision Health in Canada 2021” report card found that vision care in Canada has not returned to pre-pandemic levels due to significant staff shortages, surgical backlogs and people not keeping their doctor appointments or having their regular eye examinations.

Despite substantial commitments from governments of over $2 billion across Canada to provide capacity to clear the backlog of people needing treatment, wait times and the delivery of eye care have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, underlying the urgent need for a national eye care strategy.

Canadians cannot access specialized care to prevent blindness, despite the fact that 3 out of 4 people can stop vision loss with early diagnosis and access to treatments. Two-thirds of Canadians have not had an eye exam in the past year, and it is estimated that there were 108,000 fewer eye surgeries performed in Canada in 2021 compared to 2019. There were 1.8 million fewer optometrist visits in 2021 compared to 2019.

Report card highlights:

Progress in vision care is happening, but not quickly enough.

• The current study found that the number of eye surgeries had increased by 25% in 2021 compared with 2020 but 108,000 fewer eye surgeries were performed in 2021 compared to 2019.
• However, this number was still 20% below 2019, indicating a persistent gap in surgery capacity.
• The net result is that surgical volumes in 2021 did not return to pre-pandemic levels and the surgical wait times continued to grow, leading to vision loss that could have been prevented.

Despite funding, staff shortages remain a critical issue.

• In March 2022, the federal government announced that $2 billion would be available to provinces to reduce the surgical backlog.
• Despite this, the backlog continued to grow due to staff shortages including being ill due to COVID-19 or severe burnout.

• A survey conducted by Statistics Canada in 2021 reported that 25 to 40% of health care workers were considering leaving their place of employment or changing their jobs. This is of concern as the health care system struggles to overcome the continued impact of the pandemic.

The backlog of specialized eye care has led to severe and, in some cases, irreversible outcomes for certain Canadians living with vision loss. Canadians with vision loss continue to be underserved, and many are going blind or losing vision despite the medications and treatments available.

It is crucial that we design systems and policies that correct this dangerous trend. Visit StopVisionLoss.ca and sign the petition asking the Canadian government to deliver a national eye care strategy and to address the backlog in eye care that is leading to today’s preventable blindness crisis. 

Statements:

• “Our health care system continues to face critical challenges brought on by the pandemic. Our latest findings on the state of vision health care in Canada show that despite some progress, we are still facing a crisis when it comes to surgical backlogs and growing wait times to access critical eye care,” says Doug Earle, President and CEO, Fighting Blindness Canada. “Canadians need to take urgent steps to stop preventable blindness by receiving an eye examination and signing our petition for a national eye care strategy at StopVisionLoss.ca.  Together we can stop preventable blindness in Canada.”

• “Optometrists play a critical role in examining patients and identifying preventable diseases that cause vision loss. We care about our patients, and it is concerning that they wait to receive eye care when we know the importance of treating these conditions as soon as possible,” said Stephanie Kwan, Optometry Partner, Specsavers in Hamilton, Ontario. “Not only do Canadians need to get their vision checked at least every two years, but they also need to ensure they are receiving a comprehensive eye exam. Specsavers has found that using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is helping optometrists to identify early-stage eye disease and manage these patients effectively with accurate referrals. Our data shows that 34% of patients who were assessed with OCT had signs of vision-threatening diseases.”

Click HERE for the full press release.

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Distributed by Modo: www.modo.com

The OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation has created sustainable access to eye care for millions of people in underserved communities. On the occasion of World Sight Day on October 13, EssilorLuxottica and its Foundation will reaffirm their commitment through a multi-pronged awareness campaign titled “The Right to See.” The campaign also includes a series of activations aimed at delivering vision care to those who need it globally.

Today, 2.7 billion people around the world – including an estimated 1 in 3 children – are affected by uncorrected poor vision. The OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation aims to accelerate EssilorLuxottica’s mission of helping people “see more, be more,” and its ambition to help eliminate uncorrected poor vision in a generation.

For World Sight Day, the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation partnered with world-renowned American photographer Steve McCurry, who provided the powerful portraits of two children that can be seen across the Foundation’s and EssilorLuxottica’s digital eco-systems. The campaign will be supported across EssilorLuxottica’s portfolio of brands, business units and employee network around the world.

“Good vision is a basic human right and existing solutions have the potential to solve 80% of all vision problems in the world,” said Francesco Milleri, Chairman and CEO, and Paul du Saillant, Deputy CEO at EssilorLuxottica. “It is with this conviction and knowledge that we created the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation earlier this year, to accelerate our mission. With “The Right to See,” the Foundation is showing its determination to act as a strong advocate for the vision cause, while delivering on concrete actions to bring vision care to those in need. Together with our 180,000 people, we rally around the Foundation this World Sight Day to become truly one and demonstrate the impact we can have together.”

Click HERE for the full press release.

SILMO Paris 2022 was announced as the recovery edition. The figures are now in, and they surpass all expectations, with a spectacular rise in the number of international visitors and an increase in participation by French opticians, confirming that SILMO Paris is back to its pre-crisis levels.

During the four days of the trade fair, the 750 exhibitors welcomed nearly 27,000 visitors, roughly half from France and half from abroad. In detail, the numbers of French visitors reached 13,462, for an increase of 21% compared to 2021. Foreign visitors, from 146 countries, reached 13,444, up by 107% from 2021.

“These figures demonstrate the appeal of SILMO Paris, a leading trade fair that remains an international platform for business and a hub of interaction for all the professionals in the optical and eyewear industry,” confirms Amélie Morel, Chairwoman of SILMO Paris.

While exhibitors ensure the success of a trade fair through their products, creations, innovations and services, SILMO Paris supports them through its unfailing organisation and a complete ecosystem that showcases, informs, and defends the stakeholders in the optical and eyewear industry. An overview of the highlights of the event:  awards and visions of the future.

SILMO OPTICAL DESIGN CONTEST

Inaugurated this year, the first SILMO Optical Design Contest awarded Adi Abramov, a student at the Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art in Ramat Gan, Israel.

The members of the jury, presided by designer Emmanuel Gallina, unanimously chose his project “Unfoldable. X”, eyeglasses and sunglasses with a sharp, minimalist aesthetic, in recycled plastic, with no screws or hinges, featuring temples that may be detached in a simple step thanks to an ingenious high-tech X-shaped construction.

Adi Abramov’s objective was to create eco-friendly designer frames of which the industrial process rationalises production and limits the use of materials.

International Opticians Association (IOA)

In a partnership with SILMO Paris, the IOA awarded the International Optician of the Year Award at the introduction to the SILMO d’Or awards ceremony. Among the four finalists – Wendy Buchanan (Canada), Grant Hannaford (Australia), April Petrusma (Australia) and Jean-François Porte (France) – the Australian Grant Hannaford won the award.

SILMO ACADEMY, the great comeback

A foremost scientific symposium, SILMO Academy seizes upon societal questions to guide and train opticians in knowledge and progress being made in optical and ophthalmologic matters.

This 11^th edition addressed two current issues: myopia and the importance of good vision in an ageing population. Professors, doctors, scientists and lecturers shared their research work and shed light on broad themes:

MYOPIA

• The latest news about managing myopia

Mark Bullimore, scientist, lecturer and professor in Sciences of Vision

• Evaluation of the risk factors in the progression of myopia

Olga Prenat, specialist in medical marketing and professional relations

• Case studies from the ophthalmologist’s point of view

Arnaud Sauer, professor and hospital practitioner at the ophthalmological department of the University Hospitals of Strasbourg

• Facial anthropometry: glasses for children and positioning of lenses

Dr. Alicia Thompson, optician and director of education, research and professional development at the ABDO

• Refractive error and visual development in the born-in-Bradford children cohort

Dr. Neema Ghorbani Mojarrad, optometrist, winner of the 2021 SILMO Academy grant

THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD VISION IN AN AGEING POPULATION

• Visual and ocular manifestations of neuro-degenerative dementia

Kelly Malloy, professor and specialist of neuro-ophthalmic illnesses

• Patient-centric dementia care in ophthalmic practices

Elaine Grisdale, development director of the International Opticians Association

• The evolution of the world of low vision

Bill Harvey, professor and editor of the Optician Journal

• Visual ageing, spatial cognition and autonomy

Dr. Angelo Arleo, researcher at the CNRS and director of Chair SilverSight and the Laboratoire Vieillissement Visuel et Action at the Institut de la Vision Paris

• The role of visuo-podal integration in spatial orientation and mobility during ageing

Pierre-Olivier Morin, posturologist and specialist of visuo-plantar re-education, Laboratoire Vieillissement Visuel, Winner of the 2020 SILMO Academy grant

Save the Date: September 29 to October 2, 2023.

In the meantime, here are some SILMO Family upcoming events:

SILMO Istanbul – November 17 to 20, 2022
SILMO Singapore – April 12 to 14, 2023

Click HERE for the full press release.