TGIF! In real time, welcome to the weekend!
In the interest of fair and unbiased reporting, I am once again writing about wet AMD…..well, actually I am writing about intravitreal injections, a topic many more of us are going to be interested in very soon. Although there seem to be PLENTY of you wet folks getting the shots already. Did you know intravitreal injections are the most commonly performed medical procedure in the US? According to a 2015 Review of Ophthalmology article, Updated Guidelines for Intravitreal Injections, the numbers are twice what they are for cataract surgery. That makes sense considering people only ever have two cataract operations as opposed to perhaps 24 or more injections in a year alone. No matter the logic behind the numbers, though, that is still a lot of trips to the doctor.
Anyway, when shots first started in 2004, there was a ‘best practices’ paper written. That paper was revisited in 2014.
One thing I noticed? You chatty people should stop trying to engage the doctors and nurses in conversation! That was suggested back in 2004 and has been supported in more recent literature.
Why, you may ask. Do you remember when your parents told you not to bite (or get bit!) because the human mouth is filthy? They were right. Mouths are ridiculously germy.
Healio reported a strict ‘no talk’ policy during injections causes substantial difference. Chatty doctors had seven cases of infection due to oral pathogens. Doctors who did not talk had two. Granted, these numbers were over a total of over 47,000 injections, but do you want to be the one with a raging eye infection? (That answer should be ‘no’.)
And if you asked to have a companion for ‘moral support’ and got told no? Infection was probably the reason. Doctors can control whether they speak or not, but they have no control over people you bring with you. They are not being cruel. Leave the motor mouth in the car.
Other things in the best practices paper were equally common sense. Use adequate antibiotics and anesthesia. Monitor intraocular pressure. Wash your hands! The whole idea is to reduce discomfort and reduce infection, not necessarily in that order.
Pretty much, the lesson is: avoid infection. Make sure you have a nice, clean face and hands when you get there. Understand why you cannot have people with you. Be quiet and allow the medical staff to be silent as well. Although the paper said masks and sterile drapes are optional, if you want them, you have the right to request them.
Once again, the goal is to keep you comfortable and – more importantly! – keep you from having eye infections. Stay healthy! In the end, the responsibility is on you. Speak up about concerns. If they won’t cooperate, look for other resources.
Next: coming soon!
Home