A great grandmother is encouraging people to get their eyes checked after nearly losing her own sight to glaucoma.

Julia McCarthy, from North Finchley, visited her local Specsavers for an appointment with store director, Ajay Patel, after her eyes were red and sore.

Mrs McCarthy said, “It started after I lost my husband. My eyes were really bad. Honestly most days, they were red raw.

"I felt I was stuck all on my own and just couldn’t do anything about it. I was even considering selling my house.”

Despite not having any family history of glaucoma, Mr Patel quickly diagnosed Mrs McCarthy’s glaucoma and sent her to Barnet Hospital where laser treatment cured her.

Often symptomless in its early stages, glaucoma is one of the UK’s leading causes of blindness. It’s estimated 700,000 people in the UK have glaucoma, but as many as 50 per cent of cases are undiagnosed.