Week 6 & 7

In week 6 I spent time rotating through the VitreoRetinal (VR) clinic with Dr. Paul Chan. I had not worked in this clinic as of yet so it was intriguing to witness another aspect of ophthalmology. VR specialists primarily treat age related macular degeneration (AMD) and glaucoma, so most of the patients are elderly and have severe vision impairments. A large part of the VR specialists job is to manage vision loss for their patients. Because diseases like glaucoma and AMD are not curable but are a chronic disease state these patients hope to maintain rather then gain back their eye sight. In some cases it is possible that a treatment may work to improve a patient's site, but due to the degenerative nature of these diseases it is not always possible. In addition, the arrange of therapies used in a VR clinic appear to be much more invasive. One of the most shocking procedures I have seen since I have been here was a retinal injection. In this therapy inhibitory VEGF antibodies are injected into the rear portion of the patient's eye. The procedure is done with the patient fully conscious and only local anesthetics are used. The patient's eye is then manually held open using a contractor, and then the specialist procedes to inject the patient's eye with a syringe. It is an intense procedure which only lasts a few seconds, however these patients will continue to need injections to inhibit the development of their AMD. During week 7 I devoted the entire week to finishing my project and preparing my presentation.