Invisible ennemy (The)

Thomas, 23, Raymond, 60, diabetic, wake up one morning, victims of eye disorders. After consultation, they are diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy and need emergency surgery. Bruno, 48, sees rainbows in the sky before his eyes. He developed glaucoma.

Thomas, Raymond and Bruno have in common that they discovered too late their vision problem. After surgery, they have not found the quality of vision they once had and regret not having consulted regularly a ophthalmologist, a diabetologist who would have warned them of the danger.

With Alain Bron, professor of ophthalmology at the University Hospital of Dijon and Pascale Massin, professor of ophthalmology at the Lariboisière hospital in Paris, we seek to warn about the danger of a lack of prevention for visual conditions that have the unfortunate feature to develop slowly, without the knowledge of patients. When the affected person realizes it, it is often too late to intervene. Yet these two diseases detected in time, are, under certain conditions, preventable or can be stabilized. Together with Professor Yves Pouliquen, a member of the Academy of Medicine, we see that the planned reduction in the number of ophthalmologists (48% by 2015) suggests that preventive objective as unattainable.