Do we really need the College to be Royal?
6 April 2021
| Gwyn Samuel Williams
|
EYE - Cataract, EYE - Cornea, EYE - Glaucoma, EYE - Imaging, EYE - Neuro-ophthalmology, EYE - Oculoplastic, EYE - Oncology, EYE - Orbit, EYE - Paediatrics, EYE - Pathology, EYE - Refractive, EYE - Strabismus, EYE - Vitreo-Retinal, EYE - General
It is taken for granted in this country that all the best medical colleges are Royal. That they have the royal seal of approval from on high and therefore must be the best. I have been somewhat confused for a...
Interspecialty referrals
4 February 2021
| Gwyn Samuel Williams
|
EYE - Cataract, EYE - Cornea, EYE - Glaucoma, EYE - Imaging, EYE - Neuro-ophthalmology, EYE - Oculoplastic, EYE - Oncology, EYE - Orbit, EYE - Paediatrics, EYE - Pathology, EYE - Strabismus, EYE - Refractive, EYE - Vitreo-Retinal, EYE - General
Referrals between the many and varied branches of ophthalmology sometimes underline how sub-specialised we have all become nowadays. The old era when everyone was an ophthalmic jack of all trades is gone, for better or for worse, and instead of...
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...
Choosing a subspecialty
1 October 2019
| Gwyn Samuel Williams
|
EYE - Cataract, EYE - Cornea, EYE - Glaucoma, EYE - Imaging, EYE - Neuro-ophthalmology, EYE - Oculoplastic, EYE - Oncology, EYE - Orbit, EYE - Paediatrics, EYE - Pathology, EYE - Refractive, EYE - Strabismus, EYE - Vitreo-Retinal, EYE - General
It is quite worrying how many registrars reach the final years of training without choosing a subspecialty. Sometimes this is because they love everything and cannot countenance giving any of it up, but more commonly this is due to various...
Phaco nightmares
I am interested in the stressful nature of cataract surgery from the surgeon rather than the patient’s perspective. It is an issue that has quite literally kept me awake at night. Part of getting to grips with a problem is...
We are all Hadiza
1 February 2018
| Gwyn Samuel Williams
|
EYE - Cataract, EYE - Cornea, EYE - Glaucoma, EYE - Imaging, EYE - Neuro-ophthalmology, EYE - Oculoplastic, EYE - Oncology, EYE - Orbit, EYE - Paediatrics, EYE - Pathology, EYE - Refractive, EYE - Strabismus, EYE - Vitreo-Retinal, EYE - General
When I worked as a registrar at Newport many years ago I remember a no-nonsense corneal consultant railing about the way the tragic case of Lucie Linforth was being reported in the media. Lucie was a toddler taken into a...
The pyramid
1 December 2017
| Gwyn Samuel Williams
|
EYE - Cataract, EYE - Cornea, EYE - Glaucoma, EYE - Imaging, EYE - Neuro-ophthalmology, EYE - Oculoplastic, EYE - Oncology, EYE - Orbit, EYE - Paediatrics, EYE - Pathology, EYE - Refractive, EYE - Strabismus, EYE - Vitreo-Retinal, EYE - General
The first time I attended the Congress of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists was now more than 10 years ago, though I still remember the excitement of wandering down the aisles in the exhibition hall marvelling at the stands and...
The vitreoretinal priesthood
1 October 2017
| Gwyn Samuel Williams
|
EYE - Cataract, EYE - Cornea, EYE - Glaucoma, EYE - Imaging, EYE - Neuro-ophthalmology, EYE - Oculoplastic, EYE - Oncology, EYE - Orbit, EYE - Paediatrics, EYE - Pathology, EYE - Refractive, EYE - Strabismus, EYE - Vitreo-Retinal, EYE - General
When I first started doing cataract lists, the consultant at the time, a Mr Brown from Carmarthen, used to say that phacoemulsification was more akin to flying a jet fighter for short dangerous bombing runs than a boring long haul...
Move 78
1 August 2017
| Gwyn Samuel Williams
|
EYE - Cataract, EYE - Cornea, EYE - Glaucoma, EYE - Imaging, EYE - Neuro-ophthalmology, EYE - Oculoplastic, EYE - Oncology, EYE - Orbit, EYE - Paediatrics, EYE - Pathology, EYE - Refractive, EYE - Strabismus, EYE - Vitreo-Retinal, EYE - General
The Soviet Union still existed throughout my formative years, along with a vague undefinable miasma of possible war that generated films such as Red Dawn and Rocky IV. My favourite film from that era was called War Games, in which,...
Effecting change
1 June 2017
| Gwyn Samuel Williams
|
EYE - Cataract, EYE - Cornea, EYE - Glaucoma, EYE - Imaging, EYE - Neuro-ophthalmology, EYE - Oculoplastic, EYE - Oncology, EYE - Orbit, EYE - Paediatrics, EYE - Pathology, EYE - Refractive, EYE - Strabismus, EYE - Vitreo-Retinal, EYE - General
I took a picture of my new identity badge and sent it to everyone I knew. In fact, I put it up on Facebook as well. The two key words were ‘Consultant Ophthalmologist’ and let us ignore for now that...
The final step
1 April 2017
| Gwyn Samuel Williams
|
EYE - Cataract, EYE - Cornea, EYE - Glaucoma, EYE - Imaging, EYE - Neuro-ophthalmology, EYE - Oculoplastic, EYE - Oncology, EYE - Orbit, EYE - Paediatrics, EYE - Pathology, EYE - Refractive, EYE - Strabismus, EYE - Vitreo-Retinal, EYE - General
Not long after securing my fellowship in London I was successful at interview for a consultant post at Singleton Hospital, Swansea. The interview took place before I had actually started in London and besides the basic things that are asked...
Will it change management?
1 February 2017
| Gwyn Samuel Williams
|
EYE - Cataract, EYE - Cornea, EYE - Glaucoma, EYE - Imaging, EYE - Neuro-ophthalmology, EYE - Oculoplastic, EYE - Oncology, EYE - Orbit, EYE - Paediatrics, EYE - Pathology, EYE - Refractive, EYE - Strabismus, EYE - Vitreo-Retinal, EYE - General
Like most doctors I have read and am a fan of Samuel Shem’s House of God, with my favourite Rule being Rule 10: “If you don’t take a temperature you can’t find a fever.” If you don’t intend to treat...
