A VISIT TO SPECSAVERS SUTTON in November 2021 resulted in patient Mark Chapman being referred to Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS FT, Old Street, London for an immediate consultation.
Mr Chapman who has worked at St George’s in Tooting for 32 years as a Theatre Health Care Assistant returned home from work last November 2021 with a blurred right eye. A spectacles wearer since he was 7 years old, Mr Chapman is used to wearing glasses and having regular eye tests to look after his eye health. He has a strong prescription, and had recently had a new pair of glasses fitted, although he commented that his eye sight had felt worse due to the strong prescription.
The following day, Mr Chapman’s eyesight had become worse, so, as he lives near Sutton, he called Specsavers Sutton and made an emergency appointment. When he arrived, Ophthalmic Director, Jamil Nanda carried out a full eye examination, including an OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) scan, which provides a detailed structural scan of the eye.
‘The OCT scan is hospital grade diagnostic imaging equipment and uses light to take more than 1,000 images of the back of your eye and beyond, looking at the optic nerve and creating a cross-sectional view,’ Mr Nanda said; ‘The added benefit of the scan is that we can store the customer’s OCT images so we can note changes over time – a real benefit to the monitoring of someone’s overall eye health.’
The examinations confirmed that Mr Chapman had four tears in his right retina, so an urgent referral to Moorfield’s eye hospital was vital before greater damage and loss of vision took place. The Ophthalmic Consultant at Moorfields carried out further tests and advised Mr Chapman that he would have to undergo emergency surgery, which was scheduled in for the next day.
Commenting on his emergency surgery, Mr Chapman said; ‘It’s a small world, because I’m circulating in theatre at Moorfield’s Eye Hospital at St George’s,
I know some of the theatre staff at Old Street. It was nerve racking during the operation, as I was awake and I could still see what was happening. However, I felt reassured knowing some of the theatre staff around me.’
Mr Chapman continued; ‘I am so very grateful to the team at Specsavers Sutton who booked me in and especially to Jamil for his swift referral to Moorfield’s in London. The Consultant told me, that if I had left it another day, my retina would have been beyond repair. So my visit to Specsavers Sutton saved the sight in my right eye.’
Following the surgery Mr Chapman’s eye has healed well and as he said; ‘I can see perfectly! Although I now have a cataract, which is a common side effect following the surgery, so I will have further surgery in 12 months’ time to rectify it.’
Jamil Nanda, commented; ‘I am so pleased that Mr Chapman’s eye has healed so well, and he now has his sight restored. He is very lucky that he saw me when he did, timing is everything. I think this shows how important an eye test can be in identifying any issues.’
