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| Keep eye on smoking danger |
Sufferer in national campaign to
show link with blindness and cigarettes
A KING’S Cross sandwich bar owner is taking part in a national
campaign to publicise the link between blindness and smoking.
Dubliner Denis Byrne (pictured), 71, of Euston Road, has lived in
London for 50 years and suffers from the degenerative eye condition
AMD (age-related macular degeneration).
He first noticed blurred vision in his right eye six years ago.
Rubbing his left eye, he noticed he could not focus and was subsequently
told he had a detached retina, as a result of AMD.
Now he is losing sight in his left eye and only has side vision.
Mr Byrne is struggling with day-to-day activities that he once took
for granted and now uses a talking watch.
He said: “If the research is true, I am a fool because I brought
it on myself. If I’d quit 10 years earlier this might not have
happened.
“I can no longer take money from the cashpoint or pay for a
pint, watch TV or simply pop across to the shops without watching
the lights.”
And now research at Manchester University, which has found a link
between AMD and smoking, is being backed by the Royal National Institute
of the Blind (RNIB).
The RNIB asked Mr Byrne to publicise his condition.
Mr Byrne worked for London Transport for half a century and ran
his a sandwich bar in King’s Cross station for 22 years.
He used to smoke 25 untipped cigarettes a day and has spoken on
national television of the effects of AMD and the RNIB campaign.
AMD affects half a million people in the UK, and is the leading
cause of adult blindness, with smokers estimated to make up about
54,000 of sufferers.
Mr Byrne has ‘wet’ AMD, although the more common form
is dry. There is no treatment for dry AMD, although the wet variety
can sometimes be helped by laser treatment. AMD almost never leads
to total blindness and a moderate to high degree of independence
is still possible.
The RNIB is calling for better publicity of the link between smoking
and blindness, and argues blindness should be added to cigarette
packet warnings. Anita Lightstone, RNIB head of eye health, said:
“People fear losing their sight more than any other sense.
It should be more widely publicised.” However, Mr Byrne is
unsure how much impact health warnings have on people, and he and
his wife still smoke. He said: “You can put signs up but do
people take notice?
“It didn’t have any effect on me.” |
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