This was my second and final day shadowing Dr. Grace. Today was another clinic day where I saw more patients with misalignment, cataracts, chalazion, and tear duct issues. I saw mostly toddlers and infants, who tend to need more eye care than teenagers and middle-aged adults. Dr. Grace taught me more about eye anatomy and common eye diseases.
Many eye abnormalities don’t need treatment, such as the pupils being two different sizes or if one eye drifts to the side, if they don’t impair the patient’s vision. It is often best to not treat an abnormality if it isn’t causing problems with vision because surgery, glasses, or patching could make it worse. I also learned that issues in the eye could just be symptoms of a larger systemic problem. An example of this is diabetes, where high blood sugar levels can cause cataracts to form in the lens. A less extreme example is allergies, which can inflame the insides of the eyelids or cause tear ducts to clog.
