Teen's 'life saved' as savvy Specsavers optician sees rare condition scan missed
A has thanked razor-sharp opticians for their “life-saving” actions after a CT scan failed to detect abnormalities in her eyes.
Carly Stewart, 19, woke up to find her vision had unexpectedly deteriorated a year ago.
Her eyesight was so badly impacted that she had to use the voice command option on her to call for help as she could barely see.
She said: "I had been feeling jelly-legged, light-headed and sore. I felt that something was wrong so I visited A&E and got a CT scan, but no abnormalities were detected so I originally treated the pain with some strong painkillers.
"But the following day my vision suddenly deteriorated - I was almost blind and the pain caused me to vomit - so I used the voice assistant on my mobile and called my gran.
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“Because my vision was affected, she recommended I seek an urgent appointment with an optician."
Ms Stewart, from Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, called her local Specsavers shop and was told to come in immediately by manager Vicky Cassidy.
Neil Drain, Specsavers' optometrist director, pictured with Carly Stewart (PA)
Carly is grateful (PA)An optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan showed swelling of her optic nerve, and was referred for emergency treatment.
Doctors at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow diagnosed her with intracranial hypertension.
Ms Stewart underwent a lumbar puncture, which she described as "the most extreme pain I've ever known", adding that it quickly provided relief, and felt like "they had popped a balloon in my head".
The 19-year-old has been colour blind since her health scare.
Neil Drain, Specsavers’ optometrist director, and his team have been keeping a close eye on her condition.
Carly Stewart's optical coherence tomography scan results (PA)Mr Drain said: "We are so pleased to see Carly is making a great recovery and her general wellbeing has improved after she came to us in such distress last year.
"Her condition was serious and the treatment she received was without a doubt sight-saving, maybe even life-saving.
"Importantly, Carly is now comfortable reaching out to us when symptoms recur which gives us a great head start if it were to happen again."
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A year on, she is keen to raise awareness about the conditions that can be detected through an eye examination.
Optical coherence tomography scan results for Carly Stewart, which showed swelling of her optic nerve (PA)Mr Drain added: "Carly's story is a great example of the importance of regular eye testing, and shows the benefit of OCT scans which show us the inside of the eye in incredible detail and can help us detect a range of eye and health conditions.
"I would urge anyone who is concerned about any kind of visual disturbance to contact their local optician."
Ms Stewart added: "When I went back into Specsavers, Vicky gave me such a warm embrace - I felt everyone at the store understood my whole experience and were so supportive. I can't thank Vicky, Neil and the rest of the team enough."
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