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While looking for any interesting eye / glasses related news today I came across an interesting article on the Daily Mail website looking at 5 individual cases of people who took a simple trip to their local optician only to be told they have potentially life threatening health problems.  Here are the 5 cases with a brief snippet of the conditions that were uncovered thanks to a visit to their optician:-

Juliet, 32, went to a laser eye clinic to see if her eyes were suitable for treatment and ended up being diagnosed with an incurable bowel disease…

Andrew, 16, who has always been very fit and a competitive swimmer was taken to see his GP because he had athlete’s foot. While he was there he mentioned he’d been getting lots of bad headaches, so was told to visit the optician. At Specsavers the following day, the optician took one look in Andrew’s eyes using a hand held light, spun round and asked: ‘Who’s his doctor?...

Ken, 74, who has always had regular eye check ups with nothing untoward ever found suffered from a case of double vision while on the golf course and driving his car.  A visit to his optician revealed that the muscles that control movement were very weak, hence the double vision.  On referral to his GP he was informed he had myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disease that interferes with the passage of messages from the brain to the muscles in the body…

Tom, 15, who had lost weight, was getting headaches and stressed, also suffered from intermittent short sightedness where his vision would would blur on and off.  A checkup from his father who was an optometrist revealed he probably had diabetes.  A trip to his doctor confirmed this…

David, 41, who had a very stressful job took a visit to an optician was told by his optometrist that he needed to get himself to A&E as he had papilledema, a swelling of the optic disc – the end of the optic nerve. This meant the pressure in his brain was dangerously high which could have resulted in a heart attack or stroke if left untreated…

You can read about each individual case here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1204084/Want-live-longer-See-optician.html

We regularly like to remind all our readers and customers to visit their optician once every couple of years as not only will your optician be able to check the general condition of your eyes to see if your vision has deteriorated, your optician will also be able to alert you to any possible health issues and refer you to a doctor.

By james

2 thoughts on “Want a long and healthy life? See your optician!”
  1. Great article. I never thought in going to the opticians that often as I am only 20 year’s old, but after reading this article i realised that eye problems can happen at any age.

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