Your eye care stories

"It's like talking to a wall!" Dave's story

Dave, 67, from Newcastle, told us that he's been trying for four years to get treatment for a painful cyst in his right eye. He's had it for even longer than that, closer to ten years, but his eye care team only started looking into it in 2021.

"I was in the hospital for a separate issue, but I asked about the cyst," Dave explains. "They said it looked nasty and sent me to another ward to get it removed.

"That did the job for about three to four weeks, but it just grew back again." 

Dave asks about getting his cyst removed every time he goes for an eye exam. Two years ago, he joined a waiting list to have the cyst examined by a specialist, but he's not heard anything since. He's also waiting for glaucoma and cataract treatments, but he can't start these until the cyst is removed, because there's a risk of infection if it bursts.

The cyst causes Dave a lot of discomfort. It's painful and excretes fluid that then hardens and crystallises. This makes it hard for him to open his eye and blurs his vision.

"It's sore all the time," Dave says. "It leaks like glue. That makes it hard to see, especially at night, and makes things like going to the shops difficult because it's like looking through a viscous liquid. 

"But when I ask when I might get help, nobody ever tells me anything.  It's like I'm just talking to a wall!" 

Left in limbo: Jenny's struggle for eye care

Jenny, 80, from East London, has a history of eye issues from a young age.

"I had a chemical burn to my right eye when I was 15 and was in hospital for a fortnight. They operated to try to reduce the scarring to the eyeball. Fortunately, it didn't affect my sight," she explains. More recently, Jenny also had cataracts treated before the pandemic.

However, Jenny has become more concerned about her eye health in the last year. "I was getting pain in my eyes, so I took myself to the emergency eye unit at my local hospital," she says.

An eye specialist at the hospital said that Jenny had blepharitis, and possibly some dry eye, and prescribed some eye drops to relieve her symptoms. However, they didn't share any more information about follow-up care or how to treat her symptoms moving forward. 

Since visiting the hospital, Jenny has tried to find out more about the next steps and how to care for her eyes. She spoke to her GP and visited a high-street optician, but they couldn't help her, and now she doesn't know where to turn.

While Jenny waits for her next NHS eye check-up, when she hopes to learn more about treatment options, she's growing more worried about what's happening.

"My right eye is so uncomfortable, and the bottom lid is sagging now so that when sleeping, my top eyelid is not closing properly," she says. "I feel like I'm in limbo because my symptoms aren't classed as an 'emergency', but they still need to be treated." 

Not all doom and gloom: Alison's eye care experience

When people get care, their experiences can be positive and help them to live well.

Alison, a retired nurse from Bristol, is impressed with the quality of eye care she’s receiving from Bristol Eye Hospital.

In November 2024, Alison noticed concerning symptoms, including dark spots in her vision that weren’t going away.

“There’s a history of retinal issues in my family, so I knew warning signs,” Alison explains.

Alison visited the eye care hospital for the first time a little before 2 pm. “I was given a ticket. Numbers were called in numerical order, and I was triaged by a nurse. I didn’t have any severe symptoms, like bleeding or any signs of infection, so I suspected I might be there for some time.”

The waiting room was packed to the brim. But there was a water machine and a small canteen where people could buy food and hot drinks. A television showed the news.

Alison waited seven hours for her treatment, which included a scan confirming she had a retinal tear. However, despite the long wait, Alison says there’s nothing more the staff could have done to help or shorten her waiting time. 

“It was just a constant stream of people into doctor’s offices,” she explains. “But the staff were kind and respectful. 

“The staff didn’t even take a coffee break the entire time we were there – they just worked flat out to make sure everyone waiting got seen.”

Alison’s experience left her confident that she’s getting the best care she can and that her treatment team and hospital support staff are doing their best to look after her and make her experience as comfortable as possible.

“Despite the long wait and the busy clinic, I can’t fault the staff for the job they do. I don’t think they get the credit they deserve.”