When Kirsty Old started suffering severe headaches, she decided she should make an appointment with her optician.

It was a decision which saved her life. The 22-year-old went for an eye test at Joseph Hayes Opticians in Shrewsbury not knowing she had a blo- od clot in her brain. The clot was discovered only after opticians using a specialist camera detected swelling behind her eyes and referred her to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, where tests revealed the problem.

Further tests also showed that Kirsty, of Bayston Hill, has a rare blood disorder which makes her prone to clotting.

She returned to the optician’s yesterday to say a special thank you and to highlight the benefit of screening.

Kirsty, a sales team leader at Currys on the Meole Brace retail park, said: “If the camera had not been used I would have been at risk of other things such as stroke. They really did save my life.

“I have always suffered from headaches but one came on and just wouldn’t go away. I was becoming dizzy and feeling sick. I felt very much out of it.

“I went to get my eyes tested and find out whether I needed new glasses.

“I was told there was a lot of swelling behind my eyes and I was referred to hospital where I had a lot of tests and was kept in overnight.

“An MRI scan showed I had a blood clot in a vein in my brain. I had more tests to find out what had caused the clot in the first place and it was found that I had a very rare blood disorder which makes me more prone to clotting.”

Kirsty has been given drugs to thin the blood and other preventative measures have also been taken.

She has regular check-ups and blood tests and is making good progress.

The clot has not yet disappeared but Kirsty said it was considerably smaller than when it was first discovered last year.

“There are days when I feel a bit tired but in general I feel a lot better than I have done for some time,” she said.

Kirsty added that if anyone was feeling poorly and suffering from a headache as she had been she would urge them to go to their opticians and have the screening.

“If I hadn’t been told of the swelling behind my eyes I could have gone on for weeks and then something really nasty would have happened,” she said.