10th
All about Ophtho
Life update: I’m done with my postbac premed coursework and, during the year-long lay off between applications and getting into med school, I have joined the work force!
Can you imagine your vision failing? I’m not talking about being unable to read the 20/20 line on your vision chart. I mean seeing a black donut hole in the middle of your field of vision—leaving you with only peripheral vision (ARMD; left). Or conversely, losing most of your peripheral vision and thus having a “telescopic” view of the world (glaucoma).
In my current position as an ophthalmic technician at Retina Consultants, P.C, I see these sorts of problems every day. There, I assist ophthalmologists in the treatment of patients with retinal problems, including retinal detachment, posterior vitreous detachment, retinal tears, age-related macular degeneration, uveitis, and diabetic retinopathy.
My primary duty is to perform a full eye examination—a “screening”—before the doctor sees the patient. The screen begins with characterizing the patient’s chief 
complaint and taking their medical history. It proceeds with various tests: for visual acuity (the “E” chart); peripheral vision (using the “Humphrey Visual Analyzer” machine); eye muscle motility (“follow my finger”); pupillary reflex (does the pupil accommodate to bright light?); and intra-ocular pressure (see left).
The screen concludes with my using two different sets of drops—a sympathetic agonist (phenylephrine) and a parasympathetic antagonist (the anticholinergic Tropicamide)—to fully dilate the eyes so that the ophthalmologist can, with the aid of very bright light, peer through the giant pupillary opening thus created into the back of the eye, aka the retina.
In addition to screening duties, I also assist in procedures, including Avastin injections and laser treatments. Avastin injections and laser treatments are typically aimed at reducing overgrowth of capillaries in the back of the eye, which often leak or otherwise obscure the functioning of the retina, thus decreasing vision. Sometimes a laser treatment is able to “pin down” a retinal tear before it advances into a larger retinal tear or full-on retinal detachment.
In the near future I will also be operating two pieces of equipment that will image the back of the patient’s retina, one of them in which I will also inject the patient with fluorescein dye. When the time comes, I’m looking forward to gaining this additional clinical experience. I am already very pleased with the duties I’ve been entrusted with so far.
In my view, our most important function at Retina Consultants, P.C. is to be an early responder to any signs that the retina is starting to tear or become detached. Vision is a precious thing, and the fact that we have ways to preserve it in the face of what otherwise would be debilitating conditions is a marvel. That said, it is important to note that sometimes “the damage has been done” and there is not much more we can do other than actively monitor the situation.
