The ways we can fix a detached retina is the real sweet science

BOXING is often described as the sweet science.

I’ve no doubt there’s skill involved but there’s not much sweet about taking powerful blows to the head.

Recently an amateur pugilist came to see me – although he was actually struggling with the seeing part.

After a bruising encounter he’d noticed flashing lights in his right eye.

Not long after that he’d experienced a bit of a loss of vision in the eye so had come to me. He described it as looking like a curtain coming across his vision.

I sent him straight to an eye specialist with a suspected detached retina.

Light travels into the eye and hits the inner lining called the retina, which is made up of two layers – the inner layer is a sheet of cells called rods and cones, which do the “seeing”.

The layer outside that – the retinal pigment epithelium – supports and nourishes the rods and cones.

These two layers can become separated, however, causing vision problems. In my patient’s case, it was down to trauma – repeated strong blows to the eye.

There’s an increased risk of it happening to those who are near-sighted, have had cataracts removed or are older than 40.

It can happen in certain eye conditions which can result in scarring, such as diabetic eye disease.

Treatment involves the retinal layers being stuck back together, which can be done using lasers, pieces of silicone or even gas bubbles.

Speed is of the essence, though, or the loss of eyesight can be permanent. Anyone developing symptoms of a retinal detachment should immediately seek advice from their optician or doctor.