09/07/2025
âLife is like a box of chocolatesâŠâ
There are many great quotes from TV and film, but this is one of my favourite sayings and for me the saying resonates true. So many times I just never know what Iâm going to stumble across, both in and away from work.
I enjoy working Saturdays. The practice has a different âvibeâ. The patients are generally a different demographic and generally itâs a day I see the same nice people. Itâs funny, but once youâve had a patient in your care for a length of time they are almost a âwork friendâ, become part of the âwork familyâ.
So there I was enjoying my Saturday with a member of the âwork familyâ chatting bowls and rugby (of only 1 I know anything about đđ) when I got âgumpedâ.
There were no particular concerns, maybe his distance vision was a little worse and had a âfloater earlier in the year but always had a few so itâs no biggieâ and I was set to work âmy magicâ.
So off I set, chatting and testing, 1s & 2s, reds or greens, you know the patter, youâve heard it before I know, but the vision wasnât quite as good to start with, not terrible mind, but I just couldnât get it quite as good as the last visit.
I looked inside the eye, then at the tremendous eye images weâd taken.. and back inside the eye again and then at more amazing pictures. In the centre was an epiretinal membrane, a fairly common change we find, that can sometimes blur or distort the vision and sometimes just sits there for us as professionals to look at, making that particular eye a little more interesting in an otherwise routine day.
However, lurking out in the corner was this other âlittle rotterâ, sitting there, just waiting to cause a ruckus at some point in the future, when the chap was going to least expect it (probably whilst on holiday miles from me and great care).
The jovial chat suddenly changed a little as after finding a retinal tear I wasnât expecting, in a patient who had no specific concerns apart from what was to him, a normal change in vision, âbut Iâm a couple of years older Pete, so thatâs to be expectedâ.
I quickly tried to decide how to switch the conversation from âyouâre great, see you in a year or twoâ with a shake of the hand, to a moment of Dads Armyâs âdonât panic..â and Apollo 13s âHouston.. we have a problem..â.
Thanks to our ultra wide field imaging capturing 80% of the retina in one image and upto 95% in 5 images, there was no question what we were seeing. If a tear is caught early, laser treatment can be performed ensuring âthe rotterâ canât get upto mischief which at its worse, a retinal detachment may develop and its visual outcome much more uncertain. With the aid of the advanced imaging, we could diagnose, discuss, explain the next steps and reassure the patient.
With the help of the advanced retinal imaging we had in practice, in less that 0.5 seconds we had captured the retinal tear and in less than 0.5 seconds through the wondrous world of the internet,the referral and images had reached the hospital in Bath near where he lived, and within the blink of an eye my patient was having laser treatment at 2pm on Monday.
I believe in great care and can only provide this with the latest equipment which we invest in. It doesnât matter if you donât have symptoms or problems, or if you had the imaging performed last time and it was all fine then. This chap had it performed and all was great then, but we werent expecting the retinal tear this visit.
You never know when youâre going to be âgumpedâ. This is the reason we encourage all our patients to ask for the best we can offer and to undergo advanced imaging and as part of their eye care, because âyou never know what youâre gonna get nextâ.
Have a great week
Peter đđ€đ
