A TRAINEE optometrist from Newark helped save the sight of a patient after she was identified with an extremely rare eye condition that could have resulted in her losing her sight in one eye.

Sharon Spencer had been suffering from constant headaches for several weeks, but it wasn’t until her right cheek and eye started to swell that she suspected something was seriously wrong — and she turned to Specsavers Newark for help.

After carrying out several tests, 22-year-old pre-reg optometrist Aleena Ali suspected something was seriously amiss with Sharon’s eyes. Aleena called in senior colleagues to check her findings, before referring Sharon urgently to hospital.

Doctors diagnosed Sharon with a very rare condition called a cavernous carotid fistula that was pressing against her sinus and causing the worrying symptoms. She was successfully treated by surgeons at Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, using keyhole surgery.

“I had been given medication for the headaches after tests failed to show anything wrong,” said Sharon, a legal secretary from Newark. “They got so bad that I was off work and couldn’t do anything.

“Then one morning I woke up and my cheek has swelled around my eye and then my eyeball did the same thing, so I decided to go to my opticians to get it checked out because I was really concerned.

“Aleena was amazing. Her action in urgently referring me to hospital probably saved my sight.”

Sharon was seen at King’s Mill Hospital, Sutton, before being sent on to QMC, where she was operated on the following day.

“They fitted a coil to my vein and artery to correct the problem and overnight the swelling reduced and the headaches disappeared,” she added. “I was told that I could have lost my sight in that eye if it hadn’t been treated then.

“I’ve got a lot of people to thank for saving my sight, but Specsavers in the first instance were my saviours and put me on the right track to get me the treatment I needed.”

This is Aleena’s first job as an optometrist after graduating with an optometry degree from Aston University last summer. She said: “The condition Sharon had is extremely rare and presented symptoms including extreme swelling and bulging, ptosis (drooping of the eyelid), weeping and irritation.

“It was very important that Sharon had urgent treatment for this as the tumour is sight-threatening and could ultimately have blinded her in that eye. As a graduate optometrist this was a whirlwind for me, but I’m just glad I had the knowledge and support to be able to help.”

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