A WOMAN has narrowly avoided losing her eyesight after suffering from a retinal detachment in her right eye, which was identified during a routine sight test.

Jennie Gill, 35, visited her local Specsavers in Ellesmere Port for her bi-annual sight test, with the hopes of picking up some new glasses. However, after initial tests, her optometrist knew there was something wrong.

Victoria Begley, resident optometrist at Specsavers Ellesmere Port, said that they were lucky to catch the detachment when they did. She says:

‘Jennie came to her routine sight test with no symptoms of retinal detachment, which is really odd for this kind of eye damage. As standard, we performed the routine eye tests, but I noticed something at the bottom of the retina, and I knew something wasn’t quite right.

‘We recommended an OCT scan to Jennie, which is a hospital grade machine which allows us to look deeper into the eyes, in addition to her sight test and the results confirmed my suspicions of a retinal detachment.’

Sight-threatening retinal detachments are caused after an initial retinal tear within the eye. This occurs when the thin layer at the back of the eye (the retina) is torn.

This can lead to retinal detachment and a severe loss of vision. Symptoms include vision being affected by floaters and flashing lights. Seeking professional advice to address these symptoms at an early stage is said to be crucial to saving sight.

Jennie spoke about experience, praising Victoria’s quick diagnosis and guidance:

‘After going in for just a routine check-up, I couldn’t believe how quickly everything happened after my tests.

‘Once Victoria had diagnosed the retinal detachment, she referred me to the hospital, and I had emergency surgery the same day. My Specsavers appointment was only at 1pm, yet by just 6pm I was leaving hospital after undergoing a major eye surgery!

‘I’d had no symptoms in this eye, so was not expecting my sight test to play out this way. I can’t thank the Specsavers team enough for being so thorough in my tests to diagnose me with the detachment. I’ve been told that had it not been found, then I likely would have had sight loss or impairment.’

Victoria added: ‘Retinal detachments aren’t particularly common, but they can pose a real threat to someone’s sight and early intervention in these cases is really important. Ideally, we want to be able to identify a retinal tear before it leads to a retinal detachment. In Jennie’s case, I’m so glad that we were able to intervene even though the retina had become detached to stop her from potentially losing sight in her eye.’

Jennie tells us she is fit and well after the surgery and is recovering well.