A woman from Alton had her right eye removed to save her life after a trip to the optician with a vision problem led to the discovery of a rare cancer.

Lynsey Schulkins, 43, woke up on January 26 with blurred vision in her right eye and within three days she was losing her peripheral vision - which had an impact on her ability to drive safely.

Sunny Hassan, a trainee optician at Specsavers Alton, gave her a standard eye test followed by an optical coherence tomography scan which created detailed three-dimensional images of her eyes’ inner structures.

Lynsey said: “During the test they were asking me to read letters and I just couldn’t see them. Then I couldn’t even see the screen.

“The optician called his supervisor in for a second opinion and they referred me to the hospital as they thought I had a build-up of fluid on my eye that would need to be drained.”

Lynsey was sent to a hospital in Southampton for a day of scans and tests which revealed the problem to be a mass on her right eye.

She was referred to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London where it was discovered she had a “significant sized” melanoma in her right eye - for which the best treatment option was removal of the eye.

Lynsey said: “Normally they do a radiation treatment on the eye - but the size of the melanoma meant I would be blind in that eye and it could cause other complications, so surgery was really the only option.”

The operation took place on March 10 and Lynsey is now adapting to life with one eye while being grateful to still be around for her husband Mike, 13-year-old son Casper and six-year-old daughter Annabelle.

She said: “If Sunny hadn’t spotted it and flagged it to his supervisor things could have been a lot worse. Ocular melanomas can be incredibly fast-acting and aggressive cancers which can easily spread to other parts of the body if not spotted early on.

“It’s been a life-changing experience but at least I still have a life to change. I still get to see my children grow up and my children still get to have their mum.

“It was very scary for my children. Annabelle was worried about her mum being in the hospital and Casper was upset when he found out it was cancer.

“But we’ve had a lot of support from friends, my work and the team at Specsavers Alton. Once they heard about my diagnosis they sent me a big bunch of flowers and have stayed in touch with me ever since.”

Specsavers Alton store manager Tracey Reeves said: “We’re delighted to hear that Lynsey is on the road to recovery after being diagnosed with such a rare eye cancer.

“The team at Alton has kept in touch with Lynsey following the news of her diagnosis and we wish her and her family all the best for the future.”