In February I'm taking part in a shark dive at the Blue Planet Aquarium in Ellesmere Port to raise funds for The Chester Eye fund to purchase an Optos ultra-wide field retinal imaging machine. The dive will take place in the Caribbean Reef Exhibit, home to one of Europe’s largest collection of sharks.

This includes:

Sand Tiger sharks (Carcharias taurus)

Zebra sharks (Stegostoma tigrinum)

Brownbanded Bamboo sharks (Chiloscyllium punctatum)

Blackchin Guitarfish (Glaucotegus cemiculus)

Black Tip Reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus)

Home to a 4 million litre tropical display, the Ocean exhibit is the perfect place to see some of the world’s sea creatures up close. Filled with colourful fish, fascinating rays and sharks, the Ocean exhibit showcases some of the most incredible animals.

The Optos ultra-wide retinal imaging machine is an advanced, state-of-the art scanner that produces colour images of the thin layer of tissue that lines the back of your eye (retina). The retina is responsible for producing what we see by receiving light and images and sending these signals to the brain via the optic nerve.

The Optos scanner produces high quality colour retinal images over a greater area of the retina meaning that our eyecare professionals can identify eye disease in more difficult to visualise areas with greater ease and accuracy. The detailed views provided by this machine provide many benefits including being quick and easy to perform, even in children, improving clinic flow, and potentially earlier identification and treatment of certain eye conditions.