THOUSANDS of overweight people across the York area are unaware that their obesity puts them at risk of going blind, an Acomb optometrist has warned.

Ruth Perrott said carrying excess weight caused pulmonary problems, which could lead to irrevocable damage to the delicate blood vessels in the eye.

“A Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or more doubles your risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, the UK’s leading cause of blindness, and significantly increases your chances of developing cataracts or glaucoma,” she said.

Ruth, of Ruth Perrott Community Optometrist, said: “While people are more likely to be aware of threat to eye health from factors such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption or poor diet, they just don’t make the connection with obesity, which can also put people at risk of diabetic retinopathy, whether or not they suffer from diabetes.”

She said a new report by the sight charity Eyecare Trust and health care provider Simplyhealth revealed only eight per cent of people associated obesity with sight loss, despite weight being a major risk factor in the onset and progression of many sight-threatening eye conditions.

More than half of all adults in Yorkshire now tipped the scales at above their recommended weight and 23 per cent were now classed as obese, it said.

The survey also found people’s perceptions about weight, and obesity in particular, were seriously wide of the mark.

For example, four-fifths of those polled believed a man of 6ft weighing 13st 3lb was healthy, when in fact he would be classed as overweight.

And only 13 per cent of people in Yorkshire believed themselves to be obese, when the reality was that obesity now afflicts almost a third of UK adults.

Ruth, speaking ahead of the launch of National Eye Week, which runs from November 9 to 15, said regular sight tests were vital for the early diagnosis and treatment of eye conditions.

Yet the poll found obese people were the group least likely to visit their optician, while 15 per cent of adults in Yorkshire admitted they had never visited an optician.

The Eyecare Trust says everyone should have an eye examination every two years, unless advised otherwise by an optometrist.