Women are at significantly greater risk of blindness or visual impairment than men. In fact, according to the 2012
"Vision Problems in the US" study, 66 percent of those experiencing blindness are women, 61 percent of those suffering with cataracts are women and 65 percent of those with age-related macular degeneration are women. The causes for these conditions, including age, hormonal factors and certain autoimmune diseases, are often very different for women than for men and the precautions and treatments may differ as well.
To address these issues, today,
Prevent Blindness America (PBA) has launched "See Jane See – Women's Healthy Eyes Now" a web-based educational campaign dedicated solely to women's vision health.
See Jane See and the dedicated website,
SeeJaneSee.org, offers free information and downloadable tip sheets created specifically for women on a variety of issues across the age spectrum. Information will also include symptoms, causes and treatment options for a variety of conditions.
"There has not been nearly enough discussion focused on women's vision health," said Hugh R. Parry, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness America. "With the launch of the See Jane See program, we will be providing an invaluable, user-friendly resource for women of all ages, so they can be aware of the risks, conditions and treatments that are specifically relevant to them."
PBA's future goals for See Jane See include providing timely information through new articles on women's vision health written by experts in the field; results of a new national survey; and videos that will address a variety of issues to help women maintain healthy vision for a lifetime. Downloadable fact sheets include Pregnancy and Your Vision, Safe Use of Eye Cosmetics, Nutritional Supplements and Vision and Understanding Dry Eye.