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EYESIGHT CONCERN: Madge and Noel Mignot face losing their sight at the same time

AN ELDERLY couple from Weymouth face losing their sight together after one of them was denied treatment on the NHS.

Madge Mignot fears she and her husband Noel could both be left in the dark after they were diagnosed with serious eye diseases.

Mrs Mignot, 84, has wet macular degeneration in her right eye, which causes a loss of vision from the centre of the retina.

She claimed that she was told by staff at the Dorset County Hospital she would have to pay privately for better medical treatment. Mr Mignot, 82, was recently diagnosed with Best's vitelliform macular dystrophy, also known as Best's disease, which causes sight loss and is currently untreatable.

Former university caterer Mrs Mignot, of Longfield Road, Weymouth, said: "Treatment for my illness should be funded.

"My husband and I have paid into the NHS all our lives and now I can't get the treatment I need.

"If we both lose our sight we'll end up being known as a cyclops."

Wet macular degeneration is a thinning and occasionally bleeding of the inner lining of the eye which causes a loss and warping of sufferers' central vision'.

Dry macular degeneration has similar effects but is less treatable.

After diagnosis, Mrs Mignot was told she could have injections of a drug called verteporfin - which helps slow the rate of visual decline - in her arm on the NHS.

But she was also told that a more effective treatment - injections of an antibody called Lucentis directly into the eye - was not available to her at Dorset County Hospital's eye department.

Mrs Mignot has now paid £550 for a single injection of Lucentis at Winterbourne Hospital, Dorchester, but says she will not be able to afford to keep up the treatment.

Former Southampton docks crane manager Mr Mignot has Best's disease, a hereditary illness affecting the same part of the eye as macular degeneration, causing a loss of colour vision and acuity.

There is currently no treatment available for his illness, which affects both of his eyes and could leave him partially sighted.

A spokesman for Dorset County Hospital said they could not discuss individual cases but that some Lucentis treatments were available.

The spokesman added: "The funding is available but patients have to meet certain criteria to ensure the treatment is appropriate for them.

"We cannot talk about individual cases for reasons of patient confidentiality, but if Mrs Mignot is concerned about her treatment we would ask her to please contact us so we can discuss it."

11:33am Friday 9th May 2008

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