'I couldn't stop seeing women with large breasts after laser eye surgery'

A rare condition left a man seeing hallucinations of a woman with "Baywatch-style breasts" for 10 days after he had eye surgery. Retired teacher Mark Bryan, 45, had laser surgery on his right retina to remove scar tissue caused by diabetic retinopathy - a sight-threatening condition linked to his type 1 diabetes.

But just six days after the op in August, he got a surprise while frying sausages when he caught sight of a pair of breasts in the corner of his right eye. Mark kept seeing the same image - which he nicknamed 'Taloula' - for 10 days straight and said it was like having "Pamela Anderson pinned to my face."

He was finally diagnosed with a condition called Charles Bonnet syndrome which causes hallucinations, often after significant vision loss. These can range from simple patterns to complex images of people or landscapes - and can appear and disappear without warning. Mark's hallucination was even when he closed his eyes, and would appear without warning - when he was brushing his teeth or watching TV.

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After 10 days the images disappeared. Mark, from Redbridge, London, said: "It was very funny. I felt like such a teenager. I had that poster of Pamela Anderson on my wall when I was younger, this was like having it pinned to my face. My wife kept looking at me like I'd lost my mind, I just kept joking that I was going to run away with Taloula.

"To be honest I thought I might have lost my mind too. Although it was hilarious it scared the crap out of me as well. It kept popping up and wouldn't go away. It was like 10 days of someone jump scaring me. After that the image faded."

According to the NHS website CBS occurs after a patient has lost a lot of sight, and is not a mental health problem. The hallucinations can be present for hours, and are only visual. Mark has been losing his sight due to diabetic retinopathy - a condition where high blood sugar causes damage to the retina - which he was diagnosed with in June.

The scar tissue needed to be removed to restore some of his vision, and Mark had to wear a patch over his eye while it recovered. After the surgery, he had to lie on his front for three-quarters of every hour for three days.

He said: "I found the surgery really traumatic. It's done under a local so you can see the instruments coming towards your eye. But I guess this was the up-side."

Mark says he was told the CBS - where people of usually sound mind experience complex hallucinations - was caused by his brain compensating for the lack of information coming in from his right eye. During surgery medics put a bubble of air in Mark's eye to help the macula - the muscle around the retina - to heal.

Red-faced Mark said the bubble wobbled about, which made the boobs "very animated" - much to the dismay of his wife, April, 41. After two days Mark wouldn't leave the house because the breasts became superimposed on people he saw while out in the local shop and at Burger King.

He later learned from an optician on October 8, the unusual hallucinations were caused by CBS. He added he could only make the image - which would make him jump up to 20 times a day - go away by concentrating intensely on something or by swearing loudly. As the bubble in his eye gradually reduced, the size of the breasts decreased.

Mark, who was diagnosed with type-I diabetes over 20 years ago, added: "It was quite disappointing, after three weeks poor Taloula looked more like a topless man."

Mark had a repeat of the procedure on September 10 - but the hallucinations did not return. He was told by his optician the hallucinations are usually personal to the sufferer. He added: "That makes me feel like a bit of a perv. It's embarrassing but you've got to have a bit of a laugh."