Subaqua Sternal Rubs

… I still have a huge phobia of having objects put in various body parts where they have no business being. Case in point was today's opthalmology rotation. Even though I am in my mid-20's, I can't stand putting my finger or any other object in my eye, hence I still wear glasses. I guess this was a major clue for our precepting physician who volunteered me for a few demonstrations. The first was relatively easy and benign - the standard eye chart. I didn't make out too bad — I could read the big "E" (yes, the very 1st line), which corresponds to vision of 20/200 vision without my glasses.

The next exam was this high-tech handheld camera-like device (actually it looked pretty close to a thermal imager that Fire Departments use). I was a little apprehensive at first, but it was over in a few seconds, and it was also completely non-invasive. It also gave me this cool little print-out with my refractive errors. (4.25R, 4.0L in case you are interested.)

Next up the doctor asked me to tilt my head back, and started instilling drops in my right eye. I immediately thought "this can't be good." (Though the drops were pretty benign, only a local anesthetic that didn't dilate my pupil or otherwise mess with my vision.) At this point, the doctor turns on an ocular ultrasound machine in order to measure the length of the eyeball (which is longer in near-sighted, shorter in far-sighted). I tried to tell our preceptor of my intense "no stuff in eyes phobia," and he did attempt three times, but eventually he was no match for the reflex action of my orbicularis oculi. I mean what did he expect when he tries to push a pen like device that is glowing red like a laser onto my eyeball? Anyways, the doctor did finally manage to get a reading from one of my colleagues who also wears glasses.

During our visit we also interviewed a patient (gasp!, how surprising) who had a resolved case of bacterial conjunctivitis, after a week's worth of antibiotics. After a thorough review of opthalmological pathophysiolgy, our preceptor invited us to see glaucoma surgery in the Operating Theatre next week… It should be interesting to see how they cut through the eyeball to open up a hole in the Canal of Schlemm, which will allow for greater drainage of the aqueous humor, theoretically relieving the glaucoma symptoms.

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