Absolutely Fuming, poor treatment by GP

[Nat6999]

I had been suffering with a sore eye, I rang my surgery for an emergency appointment & was refused, was told to go to the pharmacy for advice, I went & was sold Optrex for infected eyes, I used this for 5 days & then had an appointment for something else but mentioned my eye. The doctor without looking at my eye gave me a prescription for Goldeneye. My eye has got worse over the next 10 days & I have been to see my optician today, after putting dye in my eyes, it turns out I have very bad damage to my cornea & very dry eyes. I have been prescribed the drops that are used after eye surgery to try & heal the damage & gel to put in my eyes every night. I have another appointment next week to check how my eye is healing. The optician has warned me that I may not get my sight back to what it was in this eye & I may end up having to have surgery to sort it out. I feel that the advice & treatment my surgery gave me was totally wrong & if I hadn't made the decision to go to the opticians, I could have lost my sight.

[babydog]

she DID see the GP!!

how is it lack of commonsense. she asked a pharmacist and then got a prescription from the GP. the GP was negligent. all GPs know that eye injuries are potentially very serious. the GP should have sent her SOMEWHERE that had the correct equipment to look at her eye!

I don't think the optician meant that your SIGHT will be permanently damaged OP. the problem with cornea injuries is that, over night the 'scar tissue' adheres to the inside of your lid. so when you open your eyes in the morning, it opens the wound afresh. hence they give you gel/lubrication to apply at night for months, to prevent this happening so it can heal properly. I've ripped my cornea 3 times. it DID take a very very long time to get better properly, but I have no permanent problems

[cocoabasher]

Another reason I went to the doctors is that I am on a drug for overactive bladder that can cause dry eyes. The doctor never looked at my prescribing list to check what I was taking. The optician said that at least my doctor should have prescribed artificial tears for my eyes..

If you have dry eye you can buy drops and ointment yourself. There is no need for a prescription. I think you need to take a little bit of personal responsibility here tbh.

[Nat6999]

The tablets I am on for my bladder, I have been on for nearly four years without any problems. I have spoken to my GP practice manager this morning & have made a formal complaint, I can't let this go, my eyesight is precious. My eyes are so bad I can't drive at the moment, I am disabled & my car is my lifeline.

[underneaththeash]

Unfortunately GPs have very little training in eyes and don't have the equipment to examine them properly.

Please don't worry too much though, corneas are very good at healing themselves and they should heal completely within a few days. Although, its quite normal to have a lot of dryness after an infection, so you may well need to use eye lubricants for a few weeks.

[cocoabasher]

Another reason I went to the doctors is that I am on a drug for overactive bladder that can cause dry eyes.

Erm...


The tablets I am on for my bladder, I have been on for nearly four years without any problems.

Tbh I think you need to get your own side of the story straight before you go making complaints about the GP.

[SuperMeerkat]

I feel for you OP. The smug receptionist wouldn’t let me have a GP appointment today because my issue is recurrent. True, however, the doctor in casualty said that infections (as this is) can cause my seizures to come on. Seeing as i’ve had 3 episodes of Status (continual seizures) this year, I was furious to be told by an unqualified idiot that I couldn’t have an appointment. I swear that many receptionists think they are doctors just because they sit near doctors. What do we pay our bloody taxes for???

[cocoabasher]

What do we pay our bloody taxes for???

Let me suggest you do some research so you can answer that correctly.

[Angie6868]

I'm sorry you're in this position and I hope you get better soon. Common sense says you should have gone straight to the optician though, not the GP. I think you have to accept some responsibility