Stub it out - About this campaign

As a smoker you are twice as likely to lose your vision compared to a non-smoker, yet the link between smoking and sight threatening conditions is not always recognised. In fact, only a fifth of smokers realise that smoking can cause blindness or sight impairment¹.

We want to make sure that all smokers know that quitting is one of the single most beneficial things they can do to protect their eye health. Which is why we’ve launched our first smoking cessation campaign asking smokers to stub out their cigarette, not their vision.

What we recommend

If you’re a smoker, quit.

The chances are you’re already thinking about it and you’re not alone – in the UK over 60% of those who currently smoke say they want to stop².

There’s lots of free help available to aid you and you’re much more likely to stay a non-smoker with the right support. Find all the quitting advice and tips you need on the NHS Smokefree website.

Smoking significantly increases the risk of developing eye disease so if you’re worried about your eye health visit your optometrist. You can visit our Find an optometrist page to locate an opticians practice near you.

Remember that all optometrists provide a full eye health check as part of your routine appointment and can help detect diseases early, whether you smoke or not.

What you can do

You can help start sharing our eye health messages today by downloading our Stub it out campaign pack and using the materials on your own channels.

References

1. Research surveying 2006 UK adults, conducted by Opinium between 14-17 June 2019
2. 2017 OFNS survey data