"Hope you're ok now Wensleydale".
Yes thanks, Nutty. Five sessions of laser eye treatment on the retina and the background cause of the problem (leaking blood vessel) has now gone. The scaring is very peripheral and it just means that I need a retina scan every year just to make sure that it doesn't re-occur. (And gives my optician a thrill because my condition was deemed to be very rare).
I have to reiterate that the medics wherever I went were very supportive and told me my options at every stage of treatment/assessment. At the end of the day, I still have my sight (the final cure for my condition, should the laser not work and the retina detach was amputation of the eye so I consider myself very lucky). Thanks especially to the military eye specialists at Selly Oak!