A COUNTY man is warning others to stay focused when it comes to caring for their eye sight after a lastminute trip to the optician saved his.

Tom Misselbrook, from Yarkhill, is glad he went to Specsavers in Hereford, where staff told him he should go straight to hospital.

Consultants immediately spotted a detached retina and performed laser surgery on him the same day.

The 61-year-old said: “I was told that if I hadn’t been diagnosed so quickly, the retina could have become completely detached, which could have resulted in losing my sight.

“Without addressing my symptoms, I may not have received treatment until it was too late.”

Mr Misselbrook had noticed flashing lights in his vision when he decided on the last minute check-up earlier this summer.

Optician Rowena Lovell listened to his symptoms and immediately urged him to seek appropriate medical assistance.

“If the customer’s symptoms had gone unnoticed, his sight would have been put at great risk,” she said.

Retinal detachment is more common in middle-aged or elderly people, with around 20 in every 100,000 affected every year.