Boy, 8, suffers headaches after being nervous about school – before eye test uncovers life-threatening brain condition

Meet eight-year-old Alfie Barney – who is lucky to be alive following a life-threatening condition, which was only picked up by a routine eye test.

Despite being generally fit and well, little Alfie, from Derbyshire, started suffering with headaches, which were put down to nerves about returning to school.

Mum Catherine decided to put an eye test at the top of her list after noticing her son had also developed a squint.

But during the test at Specsavers in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, optician Adnan Nawaz immediately noticed something was very wrong and swiftly recommended the child be taken to accident and emergency.

There, Alfie was diagnosed with bilateral papilloedema, a neurological condition that is caused by increased intracranial pressure.

Fatal Illness

It can be fatal for some, cause sight loss or serious changes in vision for others.

Thankfully, due to the swift diagnosis, Alfie underwent lumbar puncture treatment to help relieve the swelling on his brain and has since made a full recovery.

Giles Edmonds, Specsavers clinical services director, said: “Such stories really do put it into perspective that whenever you experience any changes to your vision or have continuous symptoms, you need to see an optician.

“A lot of people have no idea that such health issues can be identified through an eye test.

“Thankfully, in Alfie’s case, it was a happy ending, but this might not be so with others who ignore symptoms through fear of what that could mean for their health.”

Another who narrowly avoided permanently losing her sight, as well as her career, is 53-year-old Lesley Grocock.

The delivery driver from Nottingham started to experience black dots in her vision, which she initially put down to getting older – but she was actually suffering a retinal tear in her eye.

Lesley said: “I’m always rushing around and just hadn’t found the time to make an opticians appointment.

"As it turns out, if I’d left it just a couple of weeks longer, I could have lost the sight in my eye – it doesn’t bear thinking about.”

Lesley underwent an operation the next day to repair the tear with three stitches and the insertion of a silicone rubber implant, followed by a second procedure six weeks later to remove the silicone, as well as a cataract that had formed.