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How to pass the FRCOphth part 2 written

The part 2 written exam comprises of 180 multiple choice questions – spread over two 120-minute sessions. According to the most recent college exam reports, the pass rate ranged from 45 to 70% in 2019/2020. Most trainees seem to sit...

Evil in the east

I previously related a series of diary entries from an old, unlabelled, leather-bound journal which I discovered last year whilst clearing out the departmental ophthalmic library at my hospital. I had stopped reading it from January 1909 onwards as the...

Unravelling ocular motility

Ocular motility can often be a slightly abstract concept during the earlier years of ophthalmology training. A large variance on what embodies normality; mythical concepts like fusion and binocular vision, examination techniques that can be fiddly, and complex neuroanatomy all...

Game show freak

As a child of the 70s and 80s, there were limited television viewing opportunities. For the duration of the 70s there were only three channels, only moving to four with the launch of Channel 4 in 1982. Not only that,...

Periorbital and subconjunctival emphysema - a sign of orbital rim fracture

Background Orbital emphysema is a condition where air is present in orbit or periorbital tissues [1]. It is most commonly caused by trauma leading to orbit fracture, where air from paranasal sinuses is allowed to enter the orbit. The most...

Doctor in the House

“What’s the bleeding time?”“10 past 10 sir”. These are the famous lines uttered by Chief Surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt (James Robertson Justice) and Medical Student Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) on a pre-op ward round at the fictional St Swithin’s Hospital,...