A Largs pensioner who was hours away from losing the sight in one eye has regained much of his vision, thanks to staff at Specsavers in Largs.

As he had only ever needed glasses for reading, Ian Duncan had never worried too much about his sight and neglected to have regular eye examinations. However a visit to the opticians prompted by the sudden onset of sight loss in his left eye revealed the 76-year-old had almost total retinal detachment.

Ian realised something was wrong when he was driving his wife Rae to Glasgow on a Saturday afternoon earlier this year.

As the couple reached Kilbirnie, Ian told Rae he didn’t feel able to judge distance using his left eye and said he couldn’t go on with the journey. Shortly after this, he phoned his local Specsavers on Aitken Street for an appointment and was seen the next day. Optometrist and store director Chris Leatham discovered that the retina of Ian’s left eye was very loose and had almost completely detached. Chris worked fast to get Ian an appointment at Inverclyde Royal Hospital, from where he was transferred to the specialist eye clinic at Gartnavel. He was admitted the day following his Specsavers appointment and left hospital two days later after an operation to have his retina reattached.

Ian says: ‘I know I’m jolly lucky. The store dealt with everything so quickly and efficiently, which took a lot of the stress and strain of the process away from Rae and I.

‘I was surprised and pleased at how quickly everything happened. We both felt that that the Specsavers staff, especially Chris, really cared.

‘My sight hasn’t fully returned but I’m delighted with how much I have back. That certainly wouldn’t have happened without Chris and the store.’ Chris says: ‘If Ian had left it another day he may have lost the sight in his left eye completely. The longer a retinal detachment is left, the less likely it is that the patient will regain any sight at all.

‘It’s very lucky Ian came in when he did and we were able to work so quickly to get him to the hospital. We’re delighted that he’s making a great recovery.’