Free · Today · No referral needed
Something wrong with your eye? See us today, not the hospital.
Rung the GP? Thinking about A&E? Come to us first. Any urgent eye problem is seen today, free, by optometrists who do this every day, whether or not you have been here before. If you need a specialist, we fast-track you to the right one.
Come to us first
Been to the GP? Thinking about A&E? Come here instead.
We are the eye experts in the area. Urgent eye problems are what we see every day, and we have the equipment the GP does not.
If you have been to the GP
They will usually send you to an optometrist anyway. Come straight to us and save a day. We have the microscope, the pressure check and the retinal scanner that a GP surgery does not, and we write to your GP afterwards.
If you are thinking about A&E
Do not sit in a hospital waiting room for hours with an eye that we can look at in twenty minutes. If it turns out to be something the hospital must handle, we ring them and you go in fast-tracked, with the scans already done.
If you have never been here
It does not matter. Anyone in the area with an urgent eye problem is seen today, at no charge. Ring the nearest practice and a person answers.
What to do in the next hour
Six things people ring about. In every case, ring us first.
“My eye is red and sore.” Sore, gritty, sticky or watering, and it came on in the last few days. Ring today. Most of these are conjunctivitis, a scratched cornea, an inflamed lid or a flare of dry eye, and most are treated in the chair.
“Flashes of light, or a shower of new floaters.” Ring today, even if it settles. Usually the gel inside the eye pulling away with age, which is harmless, but occasionally a tear in the retina, which needs the hospital quickly. We look at the back of the eye and know within twenty minutes.
“Something is in my eye and it will not wash out.” Do not rub. Rinse with clean water, then ring. Under the microscope we can see and remove what a mirror cannot, and check the surface underneath.
“One eye has gone blurry, or a patch is missing.” Ring now. Sudden change in one eye is always looked at the same day, and if it needs the hospital we get you there fast.
“My eyelid is swollen and hot.” A stye or a blocked gland is common and treatable. A lid that is hot, swollen and spreading, especially with fever, is seen today.
“I wear contact lenses and the eye is red or painful.” Lens out now, and ring. Lens wearers with a red eye are seen the same day because an infection under a lens moves fast.
Free. Appointments available today at all five practices.
The exceptions
Go straight to A&E, without ringing us, only if
A blow or a cut
A blow to the eye and you cannot see properly, or a cut to the eye itself.
Chemicals
Chemical in the eye: rinse with water for fifteen minutes first, then go.
A curtain
Sudden loss of vision in one eye, like a curtain coming down.
Severe pain with nausea
A very painful eye with nausea or a headache, especially with haloes around lights.
Manchester Royal Eye Hospital has an eye casualty; elsewhere, A&E. Everything else: ring us, today.
Your nearest
Urgent eye care near you, today
Five practices, each with its own same-day page: who it is for, how to get there, and where the nearest eye casualty is if it comes to that.
Five practices, one family
A family of independent opticians, not a chain
Abra & Co is a family of independent opticians serving our local communities with world-class eye care and a professional, personal service. Each practice has its own name, its own history and its own team, and every one of them is run the way we would want our own parents looked after: unhurried, honest, and by people who know your name.
- IndependentFamily owned since 2017. No head office, no targets on the desk.
- LocalRooted in each town, with the same faces every visit.
- World-classHospital-grade imaging, and optometrists trained beyond the standard test.
- PersonalForty-five minutes, explained plainly, and time to talk.
Five practices
Ring the nearest practice now
A person answers at every practice. Say it is urgent and you are booked in today.
CheadleAbra & Co · 19 Wilmslow Road★ 4.9 · 106 Google reviewsOpticians in Cheadle → Also near: Cheadle Hulme · Gatley · Bramhall · Stockport
MiddletonAbra & Co · 36 Long Street★ 4.9 · 164 Google reviewsOpticians in Middleton → Also near: Heywood · Chadderton · Blackley · Rochdale
Heald GreenAshworth Opticians · 214 Finney Lane★ 4.9 · 131 Google reviewsOpticians in Heald Green → Also near: Gatley · Wythenshawe · Sale · Altrincham
WinsfordWinsford Eye & Footcare · 27 Delamere Street★ 4.9 · 75 Google reviewsOpticians in Winsford → Also near: Northwich · Middlewich · Knutsford · Crewe and Nantwich
HeckmondwikeArmitage Opticians · 14 Market Street★ 4.9 · 133 Google reviewsOpticians in Heckmondwike → Also near: Dewsbury · Batley · Mirfield · Cleckheaton
Free on the NHS if you qualify, £55 privately, at every practice. All five, with the towns each one serves →
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free?
Yes. Urgent eye care is funded by the NHS for anyone registered with a GP in the area, so there is nothing to pay. Not registered locally? Tell us when you ring and we still see you today; the appointment is then £60.
I have never been to you before. Can I still come?
Yes. Anyone in the area with an urgent eye problem can come, whether or not you have been a patient here. Ring, and we book you in today.
Do I need to see my GP first?
No. GPs send eye problems to an optometrist anyway. Coming straight to us saves a day, and we write to your GP afterwards if it matters.
What if I need the hospital?
Then we get you there faster. We ring the eye department, send them what we found, and you arrive as a referred patient with the scans already done, not at the back of the queue.
I wear contact lenses and my eye is red. What do I do right now?
Take the lens out, do not put it back in, keep the lens and the case, and ring us. A red eye in a lens wearer is seen the same day.
Can I just walk in?
You can, and we will do our best, but a phone call first means the optometrist is expecting you and the slot is held.
Guides on this
- Red eye: when it’s nothing, and when it’s todayMost red eyes settle on their own. A few are the kind that damage sight if left a week. The difference is four signs, and none of them is “h
- Flashes and floaters: the ones that need seeing the same dayA retinal tear caught the same day is a ten-minute laser. Left a week, it can be a detachment and an operation. The signs are specific, and
- Stye or chalazion? What to do tonightA lump on the eyelid is nearly always one of two things, both harmless, both fixable at home most of the time. Here’s how to tell them apart
- Something in my eye: what to do, and what not to doMost things wash out. The ones that don’t — and the ones you should never try to get out yourself — are the reason to know this before it ha