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HEALTH
- Article from:
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The Independent - London
- Article date:
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May 29, 1994
- Author:
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Copyright informationCopyright 1994 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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ASKED about health fears, most people over 50 would put having a
heart attack or stroke, developing cancer, or going blind high on
the list. Blindness seems to be feared more than deafness, though
it may be socially less handicapping - untreatable deafness is
severely isolating.
One important cause of blindness in middle to old age is giant
cell arteritis, also called temporal arteritis, which affects about
5,000 people a year in Britain, although most people have never
heard of it. If recognised and treated, giant cell arteritis is
curable; if either diagnosis or treatment is delayed for more than
a few days one or both eyes may become blind.
The illness begins with a persistent headache in ...