Towcester optician helps save customer’s sight

Julia, a financial controller from Towcester, first noticed a shadow in the bottom left corner of her right eye, but thought it was due to tiredness from a long day at work staring at three computer screens.

When the shadow was still there the next evening, Julia knew she could no longer ignore it and booked an appointment at her regular Specsavers store in Towcester for the following afternoon.

‘I didn’t think anything of it at first,’ Julia explains. ‘I was really surprised when I was asked to come in straight away and have a thorough eye examination. I never expected it to be anything serious but when I was sent to A&E I knew something was seriously wrong.’

Daljit Purewal, ophthalmic director at Specsavers Towcester, was on-hand when Julia visited the store and knew from her eye test that she needed to be seen as quickly as possible.

‘From Mrs Faid’s eye examination which included using an OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) machine that provides a detailed structural scan of the eye, I could see she had a retinal detachment which could have severe consequences if left untreated. At the time of her visit the centre of her retina was still attached but was detaching progressively and I knew it was crucial that she was seen at the hospital, so I made an immediate referral.

‘By the time Mrs Faid had reached the hospital, the central retina had detached meaning that surgery was even more important to try and save her vision.’

When Julia arrived at Northampton General on Friday, she was booked in for emergency surgery two days later.

‘I couldn’t believe it when they scheduled me in so quickly.’ Julia says, ‘The operation was carried out under local anesthetic, so I was awake for the whole thing. Afterwards I was told I would need to keep my face down for 24 hours to make sure the retina stayed in place. I didn’t want to risk anything going wrong, so I even slept on the floor!’

Since being discharged from the hospital and spending some time recovering, Julia has been able to continue with her daily routine but has lost some vision in her right eye.

‘Unfortunately, Mrs Faid’s vision could not be restored to what it had once been,’ Daljit comments, ‘but I’m really pleased that it hasn’t stopped her from continuing with her usual routines and it’s great that she has adapted so quickly.

‘It is so important to have regular eye examinations, and we encourage anyone that notices a problem, no matter how small, to book an appointment and come and see us.’

Following her treatment, Julia was discharged from hospital and went back to the store for her new glasses.

‘I can’t thank the team at Specsavers enough. They were so sympathetic and professional the whole time,' concludes Julia.

‘Daljit even followed up to make sure everything had gone well with my surgery and when I visited the store, he recognised me and checked in to see if everything was still going well!

‘I now know that if I had visited the store just a few days earlier, I would have been referred sooner and the likelihood of my vision being fully restored would have been higher. I’d recommend their services to anyone and if you do notice something that is not quite right with your vision, don’t risk waiting and book an appointment as soon as you can.’