Freaky Eye Friday
let me assure you that every friday won't have a gross eye picture on it, but some might. as you probably know, i'm an optometrist. i fix eyes 5 days a week. i thought i'd share a few interesting common cases that i see regularly.
the picture shown is an example of a corneal foreign body. most people don't realize that there is a clear layer of tissue that sits like a dome over the colored part of our eyes. that clear dome is called the "cornea". it is the most innervated part of our entire body (i.e. there are more nerves per square millimeter than any other tissue in our body). translation: when we injure the cornea, it HURTS!!! it seems like 2-3 times a week, a patient will come in complaining of a red, sensitive eye. i'll ask if they remember getting anything in their eyes, and more often than not, they'll tell me they have been grinding or hammering something. when i look with the microscope, i'll usually find one of these. the metal has flown off the nail/hammer/grinding tool and embedded in the cornea. if the metal remains in the eye for greater than 24 hours, a "rust ring" can develop. the cornea is very well hydrated, and as we all remember from our physical science classes in middle school: metal + water = rust. i'll spend the next 5-10 minutes digging metal and rust from the patient's anesthetized cornea. i can't describe to you how nervous i was when i had to remove my first metallic foreign body. but it's a piece of cake now.
every time i have a patient like this, i always think back to what Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-5. in my Bible, i labeled this section as "spiritual foreign body removal". the only way i can successfully take a piece of metal from a patient's eye is if my eyes are working properly. in the same manner, Jesus said that the only way we can properly judge others is if we have removed that sin from our own lives. otherwise, we'd be judging hypocritically. i can't seek to correct someone caught in lying if i am myself entangled in lying. however, if i'm living as God directs and have "put away lying" (Ephesians 4:25), then i am commanded to help correct the erring brother.
maybe you have found instances in your job where something you do reminds you of Scripture. i'd love to hear your story.
10 comments:
Freaky picture, but great post. By the way, if you now work a couple of days in Cullman you need to stop by the house one night. You know you have to drive right by it on 65. :)
ok, so when I first clicked on your page I almost immediately closed it because I was just startled. I did, however, continue to read and you ended it very nicely! Could we please get a warning next time though??? HAHA! How are things in Birmingham? Tell Brooke I said hey!
Yes, you need to keep posting cool pictures!
I don't have a specific reference to the Bible from work, but I can tell you it is just amazing that every time I do surgery, every animal has every organ in the same place. Every time. It is so neat to wonder how God created such complex beings such as mammals, not to mention elements, plants, water, etc. It is overwhelming and aweinspiring!
I have to say the closeup picture of the eye is a little gross but the story was nice. Great to have you back into blogging.
omgoodness!! That is soo gross!!(the picture i mean)
I think I just threw up a little. ;O)
Is this a corneal abrasion? I have had one and yes, had to wear a patch. Argh! Matey!
thanks for the comments everyone! and, yes, it's technically a corneal abrasion (aka "scratched cornea"). in this case, the thing that scratched the cornea is still there. VERY painful!
Don't you know I can't look at that without crying...my eyes can't handle it!!! :) I love your blog...keep writing!!! Hope I get to see you guys soon!!
Very good photo. You can also see a video of a foreign body removal at the slit-lamp here:
foreign body removal video
I was also terrified the first time I removed one of these. Still makes me nervous when they're deep.
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