Summer Work 2020

This summer I have been working in an optometrist’s office in my hometown. The entire experience has been amazing. I have been able to learn how to take eye pressures, visual fields, fundus photos, OCTs, etc. Also, I have helped read out prescriptions, pick out glasses for customers, answer the phone, work on projects assigned by the doctor, and so much more. Dr. Fornara has really enabled me to learn from this summer rather than just work. Every time he gets a chance he calls me into the room to look through the slit-lamp and explain what I am seeing. After a patient leaves, he will really dive into the nitty-gritty details with me and I have learned so much. I have been able to see foreign body removals, glaucoma, macular degeneration, cataract, cortical spokes, arcus senilis, etc. However, I saw something that really took my passion for optometry to a new level.

Our technician left for vacation today which means today was the first day I did the pre-testing for every patient throughout the day. Them, the last patient of the day comes in with a RFV of blurriness in his left eye that has become really bad in the past week. Once I got to the visual acuity he sees 20/20 minus 1 OD and then says he cannot see the 20/20, 20/25, or 20/30 lines OS. I go up step by step until he makes a letter out–this line was 20/400. I have never seen such a dramatic difference between eyes, personally, and when I test the near acuity he cannot make out the highest line on the card with his left eye (20/200). After taking a pressure that was typical and dilating him, I leave the room and tell Dr. Fornara everything going on. After examination, Dr. Fornara tells the gentleman that he has a retinal detachment that extends into his macula. We referred him to a retinal specialist for surgery.

This encounter alone has me so ready to go to optometry school I just about cannot stand it! This field is so incredible and diagnosing things like a retinal detachment is what gets me excited about becoming an optometrist. While that patient may never see well out of his left eye, at least he might not be blind in that eye after surgery.  I love this field and cannot wait to continue learning about it.