Meg’s daily swim nearly changed her entire life
A London woman has described the stabbing pain she felt in her right eye after a routine daily swim, which nearly turned into a nightmare that nearly blinded her.
Mel Fallowfield, 52, would regularly swim in the morning, and did so while wearing her contact lenses, something she had been doing ever since she was 12. Yet, this healthy habit of going for a swim nearly ruined her life.
Mel said: ““I turned over in bed and felt a stabbing pain in my right eye and struggled to get it open. It was incredibly painful and my eye was watering so much that I couldn’t see anything. I assumed I must have something in my eye and that it would be fine in a few hours.”
As the day went on, the pain didn’t subside. Mel, who had worn lenses ever since she was 12, couldn’t even put them in with her current state. Another two days passed before she finally went to the local eye hospital. It was there that she was told by the doctor that she had a corneal ulcer caused by swimming.
““I was so surprised – I swim every morning before work and always have my lenses in, I had no idea it was so dangerous. Apparently there is bacteria in the water that can be trapped between your contact lens and the surface of your eye, and this had caused my ulcer. The doctor told me that if I had left the ulcer any longer, it could have blinded me”, she added.
As Mel had wanted to continue swimming daily, her doctor told her about lens replacement surgery. This process involves replacing the natural lens behind your iris with a multifocal prescription lens, so you no longer need glasses or contact lenses.
The day before her 52nd birthday, she had lens replacement surgery at Optegra Eye Health Care. Her surgeon, Mr Ami Hamid, said: “Many of our patients cite sports as a key reason they want to be free of glasses or contact lenses. For Mel, this was a heightened reason as her morning swim had even caused an ulcer, and yet she could not see to swim without the contact lenses, which had caused this issue.
“Having always been short sighted, Mel’s prescription was strong, but we were able to create a tailored intra-ocular lens (IOL) which exactly met her prescription. The brief and pain-free procedure means she no longer needs to wear glasses or contacts at all, and can get back to her swimming with no worries.”
After the surgery, Mel has now been able to see without needing contact lenses or glasses, something she has described as ‘life changing’.
She added: ““The actual procedure only took about 20 minutes and I was out within the hour. My eyes were sensitive to start with, but I noticed the difference in my vision rapidly. Within a couple of days, I woke up, looked out of my bedroom window and was able to pick out not only the birds but the individual branches – something I’d never been able to do before, even wearing contact lenses!
“It was the best birthday present I could have given myself. Within just weeks I was back in the pool for my daily swim without a care on the world. It’s no exaggeration to say the operation has been life-changing. I can’t believe my splash in the pool almost left me blind.”
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