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Feb/Mar 2014 Quiz 2

History A 65-year-old lady presented with a ten year history of nonspecific visual disturbance and mild symptoms of dry eyes. Questioning revealed progressive nyctalopia. Previous medical history of note included Crohn’s disease requiring two bowel resections including small intestine. Figure...

Articles you will never read

I am sad as this is my last article. The last Learning Curve written by me. I have been writing this column for more than 10 years and have enjoyed every moment. I will be eternally grateful to Eye News...

Existential Crises

Over the past few years and months, I have noticed increased numbers of my colleagues from all over the UK complaining about various problems with their jobs and life in general, and it seems that since the COVID-19 pandemic the...

The writing on the wall

The Prophet Daniel tells a famous tale of how the tyrannical king of Babylon held a feast for all his top lords and ladies, and as the feasting grew to fever pitch a mysterious hand appeared from nowhere that started...

Keeping watch

Although it’s autumn, it’s not too cold and the slight breeze blowing up from the sea does not make me regret leaving my jacket in clinic. It’s a strange site; hundreds of hospital staff standing on either side of the...

In bed with Adnan Tufail

I used to like conferences. In fact, I loved them. When Euretina was in Paris in 2019 I met up with friends and colleagues, went out to bars and restaurants and took some time to see the Arc de Triomphe...

The tragedy of the commons

I am a big fan of the YouTube channel Extra Credits History, in which interesting historic events are explained in breathtakingly simple detail in 10 animated videos. I have watched every episode, including the ‘Early Christian Schisms’ and ‘The South...

Phacogeddon

A trainee shortly to rotate to my firm was unhappy at the fact that she had only one phaco list in her timetable. She was a final year trainee with more than five hundred cataract extractions to her name so...

The other side

Adele sings a song called Hello, which is about a mythical phonecall she makes to an ex-boyfriend about how different life is now compared to when they used to date. The chorus line repeated many times is “Hello from the...

Trainee personality types

Over the past two years I have attended quite a number of medical educational seminars and ‘workshops’ and have been a bit shocked at how out of kilter with reality the world of education seems to be now. It seems...

The butterfly effect

One of the most fascinating aspects of being a consultant is seeing the workings of the machine that is medical training from the other side. For two years now I have taken part in the specialty recruitment interviews and it...

The reps

Who are the reps? Every one of us knows the friendly face of the local randomprost eye drop representative or the nice man from that eye lubricant company. These company representatives travel up and down the region with a smile,...