Prompt action by Banbury optician helped save sight of patient

Diane Glancey was urgently treated in hospital for a retinal detachment, a condition which if left untreated can ultimately result in a loss of vision of the affected eye, after attending an appointment at Specsavers Banbury.

‘I was late for my two-yearly check-up and I had noticed my vision in my right eye was deteriorating at a different rate from the other one,’ says Diane, 69, a retired languages teacher. ‘I’d also noticed a couple of what I now know to be floaters in my eye, but I didn’t realise their significance at the time.’

After carrying out a series of tests, lead optometrist Hamza Mussa diagnosed a detached retina and referred Diane for an urgent appointment at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, which she attended later the same day.

‘Hamza said I had to go to hospital immediately because the condition was very serious. He told me if I’d come in a week later, we could have been having a different conversation.’

After further tests, doctors confirmed she needed urgent treatment and booked her in for an operation the very next day. ‘It only took an hour and then I went home, but I had to lie face down on my bed for the next two days while the eye started to heal,’ adds Diane.

‘I was told it would take around 12 weeks for my vision to return and sure enough, for a long time I couldn’t see anything out of my right eye. Eventually it slowly started to improve and I began to see from the top first, so at first I could only see the top of people’s heads!’

A keen parkrunner, Diane was unable to run while her eye healed and says she missed it very much. After her recuperation, she was able to begin training again and took part in the 10k London Winter Run.

Diane admits she was very fortunate she decided to make the appointment at Specsavers Banbury when she did as the outcome could have been very different had she waited.

‘I cannot fault the service I received and the cleverness of these people to diagnose it and put it right,’ she says. ‘I am extremely grateful to Hamza for his prompt action regarding this, he definitely helped save my sight in that eye.

‘You tend to think you’re invincible and that these things happen to other people,’ she says. ‘I wanted to tell my story to raise awareness to others. It’s so important to get your eyes checked regularly and especially if you feel that something isn’t quite right. You’ve only got one pair of eyes and it’s worth looking after them.’

During his examination, Hamza used Digital Retinal Photography and Optical Coherence Topography (OCT), and carried out a dilated fundus examination to detect the large retinal detachment, before referring Diane to hospital for urgent treatment. ‘If she had not been referred immediately to hospital, she could have suffered vision loss in that eye, so I am very pleased we caught it in time,’ he says.

‘I have seen Miss Glancey since she underwent successful surgery and am pleased to see she is doing well, although she is beginning to struggle with a cataract, which is common after surgery such as this, so we have referred her back to hospital to have this removed.

‘It is important for the public to keep up with regular eye examinations,’ Hamza adds. ‘Although in this situation the patient was asymptomatic, anyone experiencing new floaters and/or flashes in their vision or feels a shadow form on the edge of their vision, should see their local optometrist to be assessed without delay. It could be sight-saving.

The retina is the tissue at the back of the eye responsible for vision. Retinal tears and detachment can happen at any age but are more likely occur in people who are over 40, are very short-sighted, have had cataract surgery, suffered an injury or direct blow to the eye, or have a family history of retinal detachment.

For more information or to book a sight or hearing test, call Specsavers Banbury on 01295 251251 or go to https://www.specsavers.co.uk/stores/banbury