Blog vol II. 31, Trim Up The Tree.
As the Christmas season begins, with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads, watching “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” and all those other Christmas things, it is time to go tree hunting. Being already out in the country, we find the source of all the cars with trees tied to their roofs, head to the closest tree farm, and get in line to cut a tree and bring it home.
As I stood there in line, my thoughts drifted into optometrist mode. With all those pokey needles, my memory goes back to the many occasions when overactive pine boughs or spruce needles decided to charge at someone’s eye and insist on scratching a once healthy cornea. PLEASE BE CAREFUL with those pesky herbaceous eye abraders. Wearing safety glasses would not be inappropriate though not much in keeping with the Christmas theme. I have seen many of these abrasions, and it is important to get them looked at and treated.
WARNING: Any substance that has “vegetable” matter like a pine needle or a branch can cause a fungal infection. So, let’s say you decide to wash out a scratched eye and put on some antibiotic drops from the pharmacy, but it is getting worse, YOU MUST GET IMMEDIATE ATTENTION, do not play with a fungus.
We also turned on our outside Christmas lights for the first time and enjoyed all the variety of colours. It is great to have shorter days at this time of year so that we can appreciate the many seasonal light shows. What a gift sight is, and clear vision. In our practice, we have many patients that are coming into the cataract season of their lives. When cataracts are bad, they change our colour perception. Patients who have had one eye operated on notice right away that the colours are more vivid and whiter in the “new” eye compared to the old. Cataracts also affect your night vision, often giving a form of double vision or “ghosting” which can be disconcerting, especially when driving.
The last thing I noticed was the number of families, from little tots in carriers to grandparents, all coming together to share a memory. It reminds me of why I like being an optometrist. I see whole families, from six months old to palliative care and everything in between, and often together. We have lots of families with three, and even four, generations that come to see us. What a privilege.
Ah, a wonderful time of the year.
Merry Christmas,
the good doctor, Dr. Mark Germain, Burlington Optometrist
