AN OPTICIAN’S insistence on referring a customer to hospital has saved a Selby woman from losing the sight in her eye.

A swelling of the optic nerve was only spotted after Mohammed Hayat, optometrist at Specsavers on Gowthorpe in Selby, insisted on referring a customer to York Hospital.

Susan Thomas, 44, who wears prescription glasses, had been experiencing regular discomfort with the prescription for her left eye. She wasn’t due an eye examination for another year but arranged an appointment at the beginning of December 2018 after persuasion from her husband.

Susan said: "When Mohammed carried out the eye examination he was able to compare the pictures from a scan I had with Specsavers from back in 2011. When it was clear that the optic nerve behind my left eye was swollen Mohammed referred me to the hospital and I had an appointment to see a consultant within two days."

Upon seeing the hospital consultant, Susan was advised that she needed an MRI scan to further investigate the issue.

Susan added: "A couple days after the scan I received a phonecall at work from the hospital explaining that I needed to go back to see the lead consultant.

"When I attended the appointment the consultant explained that I had a 27mm intraconal tumour behind my left eye, which could possibly be cancerous. Once you hear that you fear the worst and it was a lot of information to take in at the time."

Subsequently, Susan was booked in for a CT scan on Christmas Eve, with the results highlighting that there was a large blood vessel feeding the tumour. As a result of this Susan was booked in for an operation to remove the tumour on January 24.

Following the operation, Susan commented: "At first the surgeons thought they might not be able to remove all of the tumour, so to find out afterwards that they managed to remove all of it and that it was a benign tumour was brilliant and such a relief!

"Although the tumour that I had is quite rare, I’d strongly recommend others in the town go for regular eye examinations as you are not only checking your sight but the health of your eye too."

Susan concluded: "I’m extremely grateful firstly to Mohammed and the team at Specsavers Selby for spotting that something was seriously wrong and secondly to the amazing surgeons and team at York Hospital who carried out the successful operation. If I’d have left visiting Specsavers any longer for an eye examination it could have been too late to treat successfully."

Mr Hayat said: "We pride ourselves on our customer care, so to be able to support Susan and refer her to the hospital before her complications got worse is invaluable. It just goes to show how important it is to have regular eye examinations or coming to see us if you feel that something might be wrong.’