Picture description: Hannah is talking a selfie with her phone. The flash is on. The room is quite dark. She is wearing glasses and her hair is down.
Hannah originally shared her story as part of National Eye Health Week. Please read below to hear her journey with PIC so far...
As part of National Eye Health Week, I will sharing stories from the friends I have made across the Instagram community. Many of these friends have different eye conditions to myself. I personally feel it is really important to help raise awareness of a variety of eye diseases, and not just PIC; vision loss of any sorts is devastating. Hopefully sharing these stories will raise awareness, potentially help others spot signs earlier, improve knowledge on caring for eye health, and importantly, help others feel less alone.
This is Hannah's story...
Hi everyone! My name is Hannah, I am 16 years old, and I have a rare eye condition called Punctate Inner Choroidopathy (PIC).
I’ve had frequent opticians appointments all my life. However, nothing was ever picked up until the beginning of January 2019. This lead to ongoing hospital appointments, trying to figure out what was at the back of my eyes! September 2019 rolled around, and I was diagnosed with PIC after having my first few distortions.
Being only 14 years old at the time, the doctors were all stunned that I had such activity in my left eye, and I frequently get asked if I am too young to be suffering from such a sight-threatening condition. But, PIC hasn’t stopped me from continuing the things that I love and enjoy: dance, photography, makeup, interior design etc.
It can be really hard at times - I’m constantly questioning when I’ll have to eventually give these things up, and even dreading when my next lot of distortions or blind spot might appear. School is really tough too! I can’t stare at the board for too long because of how sensitive my eyes are to light, which worries me a lot as I have my GCSEs coming up this year, and stress can cause me to have ocular migraines. But the truth is, I’ve kept going. The changes in my vision haven’t stopped me from trying to life live to the fullest, in fact it’s probably made me treasure every visual memory more. Yes, it might have been hard for me to come to terms with new ways of seeing and looking at things, but I’ve learnt to be strong. I do have days where I still feel quite low about having PIC; I don’t want to get out of bed, and don’t feel motivated at all. But I’ve learnt that it’s perfectly normal.
I don’t think people really understand how hard it is to live life differently to the norm, and how tough it can be after each appointment, after each injection, after each blood test. It’s tiring! But we get through it. That’s why National Eye Health Week is so important! It’s all about making sure that you get your eyes regularly tested at the opticians, and reporting any issues or concerns that you may have. Your eyesight is too precious to lose!
Hannah xx