AN international footballer who has been playing with sight in only one eye yesterday spoke publicly about his condition for the first time.
Dean Shiels, of Hibernian, is now facing an operation to have his right eye removed. He has been partially blind since an accident when he was eight.
Shiels will meet a specialist in Manchester on Wednesday and is likely to have surgery before the end of the month.
He lost the sight in his right eye when he injured himself as he helped his mother Gwen strip wallpaper at the family home in August 1992.
One expert suggested that Shiels had been able to adapt to his disability because it happened at such a young age.
The 20-year-old forward said: "Since the accident, I have had no sight at all in the eye despite several operations when I was younger.
"At that time it was always envisaged that there might come a time when the damaged eye might have to be removed.
"In the past few months, the condition of the eye has deteriorated and it has been causing me other problems such as severe headaches.
"I have had specialist advice, and, after talking this overwith my family, I have taken the decision to have the eye removed now.
"While it is important that the fans understand the reason that I am not involved at the moment, I don't want people to make too big a deal of this.
"I will be very happy if I am just allowed to get on with the operation and then get back to playing football once I have fully recovered."
His father Kenny added: "Over the past couple of months blood vessels have been bursting in the eye, giving him headaches.
"The surgery isn't going to restrict his sight any more. . .It is something he must go through."
Karen Sparrow, senior optometrist with Vision Express, said that Shiels had clearly learned to compensate for his condition.
She said: "The reason that he doesn't have problems and is obviously pretty successful is that it happened when he was very young, and since then he has adapted and compensated.
"His visual field will be slightly restricted, but he can compensate by moving his head around a bit more. We need both eyes for three dimensional vision to do things like heading or kicking a ball, but what he is doing unconsciously instead is using his brain to process things like shadow and size difference to compensate."
Tony Mowbray, the Hibs team manager, said: "Dean has shown us that he is a young man of remarkable spirit and determination in achieving all that he has done already in the game.
"What is amazing is that Dean has adapted so fantastically that people who don't know him well have been entirely unaware of this."
Shiels earned his first senior cap for Northern Ireland when he came on as a substitute against Portugal at Windsor Park.
WINNING THROUGH
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Tim Howard
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Steve Hodge
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Nwankwo Kanu
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Edgar Davids
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Diabetic who lifted FA and Uefa cups with Spurs during a 16-year career.
Garrincha
Brazilian star's legs so badly twisted as a child he had to have surgery just to walk. Went on to win World Cup in 1958 and 1962.
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