Glossop patient one of first to receive eye treatment

A Glossop patient has become one of the first in the country to receive an advanced eye treatment involving an injection.
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Anne Foster, 74, received the new procedure, which is an injection of ocriplasmin into the eye to treat blurred or distorted vision which replaces the need for an operation, at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport.

She said: “I couldn’t believe how quick it was, I was in and out in no time. There was no side effects at all, and I felt fine afterward. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough.”

The injection can treat conditions such as broken tissue or fluid in the eye’s retina, which in some cases can lead to blindness. Previously, the only way to treat this condition for High Peak patients was an operation called a vitrectomy, a complex, invasive surgery, which was carried out at another hospital.

As well as being quicker to perform, the recovery time for patients is quicker and decreases the risk of cataracts which can also arise from vitrectomy surgery. Ocriplasmin injections have only recently been authorised by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and Stepping Hill is among the first hospitals to make use of it.

Stepping Hill eye surgeon Anthony Moriarty said: “The ocriplasmin injection has totally changed the way that these conditions are treated.”

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