Specsavers, Didcot found detached retina in man's eye

Richard Davies could have potentially lost his sight if his wife, Toni, had not taken him to the opticians in time.

The 55-year-old started to have mild headaches and see strange black dots in his vision earlier this year.

He had bumped his head following an accident and assumed it was related.

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It was only when a few days later and it had not improved that his wife became increasingly concerned and booked an appointment with Specsavers in Didcot.

Mr Davies said: “To be honest, I would have put off seeing an optician all together, but as Toni had made the appointment, I went along to appease her.”

Although the store was closed due to lockdown restrictions, Mr Davies had an urgent case and was seen by the store director Rukhsana Bi, who carried out a full eye examination.

This included an OCT (optical coherence tomography) scan which allowed her to look deeper into Richard’s eyes.

Ms Bi said: “The OCT scan uses light to take more than 1,000 images of the back of your eye and beyond, looking right back to the optic nerve and creating a cross-section view.

“The added benefit of the scan is that we can store the customer’s OCT images so they can note changes over time – a real benefit to the monitoring of someone’s overall eye health.”

The examinations revealed a suspected detached retina in Mr Davies’ left eye and so Ms Bi called the John Radcliffe Hospital and sent across the scans for the specialists to review.

The retina is the light-sensitive layer of tissue that lines the back of the eye. It is responsible for receiving light and translating it into electrical signals to send to the brain, where it creates the images we see.

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Mr Davies went to hospital the next day where he had surgery under local anaesthetic.

Three weeks later his vision was 95 per cent back in his left eye and he has now returned to work.

Mr Davies said: “I’m just so grateful to Toni and to Specsavers – without them I could have lost the sight in my eye.

“I’ve not really thought about the importance of seeing an optician before, but I’ll certainly be encouraging others to make sure they don’t put off any concerns they have with their sight.”

Ms Bi added: “It’s great to hear that Richard has made such a swift recovery.

“Stories like his do show that you should never put off seeing your optician if you are having any vision issues - the sooner these things are picked up the better.”

Specsavers stores in Oxfordshire are now open for routine testing.

To help manage social distancing, stores across England are encouraging customers to book an appointment in advance by phone or online via specsavers.co.uk.

The store has restrictions on the number of customers allowed in store at any one time, strict social distancing rules and, where possible, card instead of cash payments.