07/10/2025
"Many moons ago, a patient walked into the office with āsomething in [his] eyeā after grinding metal. He assured us he was wearing his safety glasses as well as goggles on top of them, but āsomehow something still got in it.ā And of course, this had happened 2 days ago, but he was just now walking into the office at 4:55 PM on Friday because it was killing him and he couldnāt get in any earlier because of his work schedule. We bit our tongue and pulled out our slit lamp to discover a dead-central 1-mm metallic corneal foreign body in the anterior stroma, with a rust ring, surrounding corneal edema, and an early subepithelial infiltrate. We sat back and explained to the patient what we would need to do to remove it in office, including what antibiotic drops we would need to prescribe for them along with dosage instructions, that we would need to cycloplege the eye to ensure thereās no intraocular foreign body and for their comfort, and that we would also insert a bandage contact lens to promote healing before seeing him in 24 to 48 hours (or sooner via the officeās on call service should symptoms worsen). We deftly removed the foreign body with our instrument of choice, debrided the rust ring with an Alger brush without complication, painlessly inserted the bandage contact lens, and sent the antibiotic drops e-prescription to the patientās pharmacy. Before we even had a chance to leave the examination room, the patient asked whether he would have to pay his co-pay today, whether he would have to pay again at the follow-up visit, and most importantly, whether he could go ahead and get his glasses that day because he was already here. Good grief!" writes Chris Wroten, OD.
Read more: https://hubs.li/Q03wDCk80
!["Many moons ago, a patient walked into the office with āsomething in [his] eyeā after grinding metal. He assured us he w...](https://img4.medioq.com/065/219/1148369060652190.jpg)
