woman has described the terror of waking up after a horrific windsurfing accident that left her with holes in her eyes. Nicky Shipp’s holiday to Greece turned into a nightmare following the freak occurence.
The 63-year-old was windsurfing when she fell into the water and hit her head. The impact ripped two holes in her right eye, the Manchester Evening News reported.
She told the paper that when she woke up with brown floaters in her eyes a week later, she knew something was seriously wrong. She said: “The mast landed on my head with a bad bang. A week later, I noticed star dust in my eyes. The next day, I woke up and I had flashing lights.”
Upon her arrival back home in the UK the Surrey woman booked herself an appointment with an optician right away. After various scans and hospital visits, it was found that she had holes in her retina – the layer at the back of her eye.
The injury could have caused blurred vision and permanent sight issues if left untreated so she had surgery to fix the holes. However, she developed cataracts – when lenses cloud over – in both eyes.
Nicky windsurfing
Nicky windsurfing (Image: Nicky Shipp)
She opted to leave the condition alone for four years until she was prompted into action after a terrifying drive home in the dark in December last year. She said: ““I decided to go on the back roads to avoid the traffic but soon realised that I couldn’t differentiate between the tarmac and the grass at the side of the road.”
Nicky continued: ““I was driving at 20mph; I just wanted to get home as safely as possible. I realised that I had to do something about my cataracts – I had become reticent about driving at night and it was starting to have a detrimental impact on my life.”
She approached Manchester hospital Optegra Eye Hospital and had her cataracts removed. Thankfully, her eyesight has returned to normal.
To mark National Eye Health Week (September 19 – 25) Professor Bernie Chang, consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Optegra and president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists has offered his advice on what to do if we experience changes in our eyes. He said: “Most of the symptoms
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