Beer goggle miracle

Feb 25 2007 By Gordon Wilkinson, The Sunday Sun

It didn't take a laser for Frazer Simpson's sight-improving operation . . . the North pub boss accidentally performed the eye surgery himself.

He was in blinding agony after his pupils were splashed with a skin-scorching chemical, and hospital doctors feared his retinas might have been irreparably burned.

But the traumatic incident has had the opposite effect . . . he can now see the world better than ever before.

Poor eyesight from birth had meant he was only allowed to drive wearing spectacles. But the only glasses he reaches for now are to be filled with beer.

Powerful alkaline fluid splashed into his face while he was cleaning the pump lines leading from the cellar tanks to the bar.

Pals rushed him to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary for emergency treatment.

But three months later the optician's chart is truly a sight for sore eyes as he can see right down to the small print.

"The optician could hardly believe it when I read all the lines on the test chart," said the 36-year-old assistant manager of the Joiner's Arms in Morpeth, Northumberland.

He added: "Previously, I couldn't make out the smaller letters. Now I have been declared fit to drive without specs. It is marvellous.

"The stinging fluid felt as if my eye sockets were on fire but I washed them out with water immediately.

"However, it must have somehow cleared whatever was wrong with my sight. It was cheaper than laser surgery but considerably more painful. I don't recommend the treatment to anyone else."