OjosSanos.org features engaging videos, sight-saving tips and trusted information on how to preserve healthy vision
SAN FRANCISCO—The American Academy of Ophthalmology, the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons, has launched OjosSanos, a Spanish-language version of its EyeSmart® website, in order to empower Latinos with the most trusted and accurate eye health information on the web. The organization's effort is in response to ongoing research showing that Latinos have a high incidence of eye disease.
The Los Angeles Latino Eye Study LALES, the first effort to track eye disease incidence among Latinos, found that Hispanics had higher rates of developing visual impairment, blindness, diabetic eye disease, and cataracts than non-Hispanic whites. The risk for glaucoma in Latinos is four times higher than it is in whites, and three times higher in Latinos who have siblings with glaucoma compared to those without any family history of glaucoma. Most importantly, the study found 75 percent of the Latinos with glaucoma were unaware of their eye disease, and almost half of all Latinos with diabetes had diabetic retinopathy.
The Spanish-language website OjosSanos, www.ojossanos.org, provides the most trustworthy and medically accurate information about eye diseases, conditions and injuries. The website offers:
- Comprehensive information on nearly 60 common eye diseases and conditions.
- A list of symptoms that Latinos can refer to and see possibly related eye conditions.
- Videos, animations and images to help explain key aspects of disease and conditions and their treatments.
- Detailed material on glasses, contacts and vision-correction surgery LASIK.
- Tips and resources to help people maintain healthy vision for a lifetime.
- A directory to search for a nearby ophthalmologist.
Both EyeSmart and OjosSanos are supported and backed by the American Academy of Ophthalmology – the world's largest organization of Eye M.D.s. All of the information on the site is regularly reviewed by a dedicated team of ophthalmologists.
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About the American Academy of Ophthalmology
The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons — Eye M.D.s — with more than 30,000 members worldwide. Eye health care is provided by the three "O's" – ophthalmologists, optometrists, and opticians. It is the ophthalmologist, or Eye M.D., who can treat it all: eye diseases, infections and injuries, and perform eye surgery.
About EyeSmart/OjosSanos
The American Academy of Ophthalmology’s EyeSmart® public education program educates the public about the importance of eye health and empowers them to preserve their healthy vision, by providing the most trustworthy and medically accurate information about eye diseases, conditions and injuries. OjosSanos is the Spanish-language version of the initiative. The websites www.geteyesmart.org and www.ojossanos.org contain comprehensive, physician-reviewed information, supplemented by animations, and videos to help people understand how to keep their eyes healthy and when to see an ophthalmologist Eye M.D. about vision problems.