TV’s Alan Carr reveals fear he is ‘losing my sight’ due to astigmatism
The star revealed he was treated at Moorfields Eye Hospital following a ‘health scare’.
Comedian and TV presenter Alan Carr has revealed he is “losing my sight” after being diagnosed with astigmatism following a “health scare”.
The 48-year-old said his condition was worsening while speaking to comedian Grace Campbell on his Life’s A Beach podcast.
He said: “It was so surreal when I got my check, because losing my sight is my worst thing, and I can feel it getting worse.
“My eyeballs need draining, because they’ve got too much pressure.”
Carr continued: “I’ve got an astigmatism, I kept telling people I had stigmata, which are like the wounds of Christ, they were like ‘get over yourself Alan’.
“But I had a bit of a health scare, can we talk about this, I went to Moorfields (Eye Hospital), I’ve got something wrong with my eyes, like quite a lot of pressure, and I hate the glaucoma thing when they squirt the air in your eye.”
An astigmatism is a common eye condition which sees the eye shaped more like a rugby ball than a football, and causes blurry vision according to the NHS.
The health authority says headaches and eye strain are also common symptoms of the condition, which normally happens alongside short-sightedness or long-sightedness, and is usually treated with glasses or contact lenses.
Speaking about having his eye treated, the Chatty Man star added: “You know when you watch Saw, it’s like a Black And Decker nail in your eye, you can imagine the real optician is tied up in the closet.
“I had something wrong with my eyes in the corner, and I was just so worried because he had to basically choke me, just to get this air going in my eyes, it was too much.
“And listen to this, what I had at Moorfields, they anaesthetised my eyeball, and then the spike came in on to the lens to see if it worked, and he said, ‘just relax Alan and just concentrate on the spike that’s going in your eye’, and I was like ‘excuse me?'”
Carr began his career on the Manchester stand-up comedy circuit before moving on to TV to present shows such as The Friday Night Project, Alan Carr’s Celebrity Ding Dong and appear as a team captain on panel shows such as 8 Out Of 10 Cats.
