Mr_Gray saves irontiddies from a perpetually dilated eye
126 comments · 94% upvoted · source · other discussions
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Mr_Gray
scrubvictory
I love the power of reddit sometimes. Really cool that someone with a problem can have someone else who just sat through a conference on that topic magically appear and give out pertinent info.
I hope this was the actual cause of her dilated eye after all!
DistortoiseLP
This is the exception to the rule, more often what happens is people will go to WebMD and tell the OP they absolutely, 100% have the single worst possible cause of the symptom described.
That said, there's a story down there about she went to the doctor and the doctor said it was nothing, which is a bit odd in the other direction IMO because my understanding of abnormal pupil dilation is that they're comparable to chest pain in that there are many possible causes ranging from harmless to very serious, and you should err on the side of caution until it's identified.
MostlyBlindGamer
It's actually a symptom of various neurological issues. I'm surprised they didn't get a head CT just to be safe.
DistortoiseLP
There's a lot of controversy over doctors doing CT's "just to be safe" and for good reason. It should be reserved for when more mundane methods of diagnosis are attempted and inconclusive. Besides, they're not cheap.
MostlyBlindGamer
I wouldn't suggest they should do it, of course. I've just had more CTs done than necessary, before I started taking charge of my own medical decisions and know they make some sense for things like this. A good patient history would make one useless here.
I had a CT done when I was a kid because I had a headache and nystagmus. Those sound like good enough reasons, except I told the doctor I'd always had the nystagmus. After the CT was clean his supervisor gave him a talking to.
A few years ago, I negotiated with my doctor for an MRI instead of a CT.
Monutan
That's because of the radiation they produce. It can be more harm than good over time.
calgil
Radiation from a single scan is less than exposure from a flight. If a patient is presenting something that could be life threatening, a scan should definitely be done.
It's an issue when someone is repeatedly scanned throughout their life, which is why doctors and dentists need to leave the room. And why airline crews are basically fucked.
Crusader1089
And why airline crews are basically fucked.
I kinda feel like this would be more widely discussed if airline staff were regularly dying of cancer?
slater126
to match the maximum yearly dose of radiation for US radiation workers (50 MilliSieverts) from just flights from NY to LA (40 MicroSieverts) you would have to go on over 1000 flights
that is around 50% of the lowest 1 year dose that has a clear link to increased canser risk.
an Head CT scan gives you around 2 MilliSieverts (that flight is 0.05 MilliSieverts)
this has a nice table about what different things gives you
Natanael_L
Obligatory xkcd chart on ionising radiation
Bainsyboy
Nope, a CT scan gives you somewhere in the magnitude of 50x the radiation dose as a long distance flight (depending on the length of flight, of course).
Moistcupcakee
Radiation from a CT scan of the head is pretty high actually. One CT scan of the head is around 2msv while a 5-7 hour flight is around 0.02 msv of radiation... a single dental X-ray is 0.005 msv, so that is why you shouldn’t just jump to CT scans.
BreezyWrigley
That's still not even that much radiation though unless you're getting like 6 of them a year
[deleted]
A blown pupil is a very serious sign, the sort of thing that can get you a top-priority ambulance ride or even a helicopter. That said, basically all of the things they're worried about in those cases also involve major incapacitation, and OP was presumably still at a 15/15 on the Glasgow Coma Scale. If you have a blown pupil but nothing else, it's not necessarily going to case a huge amount of concern.
Vuelhering
I liked the seemingly unrelated, deadpan question that cut right to the issue.
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Alaira314
Some of us live in the US, man. :(
If it resolves itself by the next morning, I really can't afford to be running my ass to the hospital for every little thing that could possibly be a sign of something bad. Just so far this year, I know I've had at least 3-4 "oh shit you might be DYING" things that resolved on their own. That's $60-80 in out of pocket copay, not to even get into the actual bill that comes in the mail. Nobody here can afford that level of medical paranoia.
victorofthepeople
If you really thought you might be dying on 3 or 4 separate occasions in just the month of January, then I'm guessing you have much bigger problems than living in the US.
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Alaira314
Ding ding ding, we've got a winner! My anxiety triggers off of all those minor symptoms(which we all experience regularly, and don't die from!) that get passed around in health PSAs as being signs of deadly illness. I have no idea how normal people are able to just ignore it. Obviously y'all can, but I'm just standing over here in my panic station being baffled as to how.
Alaira314
"If your chest hurts, see a doctor immediately!" (Or it might just be heartburn.)
"If one of your eyes is a different size from the other, see a doctor immediately!" (Or ya know maybe you're just looking at the mirror too closely and they're not that much different after all.)
"If you see a bug, then when you look again nothing's there, see a doctor immediately!" (Or it might have just been a reflection off your shitty scratched-up glasses that need replaced that your mind thought was a house centipede because god you hate those creepy things.)
I have severe anxiety. That, coupled with the health PSAs we're constantly bombarded with, means that I very often experience symptoms that my brain interprets as me potentially dying. Obviously, I have not died. They're false alarms. But I suffer a huge amount of stress mentally dealing with dismissing these symptoms that aren't actually killing me, as well as the fear that one day I'll ignore something that's actually serious. But who the hell can tell the difference?* Even the most innocuous things can be symptoms of a deadly illness, but only a lunatic(or somebody with very deep pockets) would race off to the hospital based solely off one of them, because of how often it crops up.
* The answer is normal people, without severe anxiety. It's apparently super obvious to all of them what the difference is. But I've never had that luxury, so I don't know what that peace of mind feels like.
def_1
Unless you are having other neurologic symptoms or you're eye movements are abnormal, you could also go to the ophthalmologist office first. There are testing we can do in the office to determine the exact cause of anisocoria. An isolated dilated pupil is rarely anything serious. However it can be hard to know which eye is the abnormal eye as the other eye may be constricted which has a different differential. Thus, I definitely agree a physician, preferably an eye doctor, needs to see anyone with unequal pupils asap. But it doesn't always warrant a trip to the ER.
howimetyomama
Anti-cholinergic side effects are very high yield for the purposes of board examinations.
Lung_doc
Yeah, we see this in the ICU sometimes from atrovent nebs given through bipap masks where the air is leaking toward the eye. Of course in the ICU there are so many scary reasons for a blown pupil, so it's always alarming.
Also I hadn't heard of these cloths - sounds exactly like the type of thing. people will forget to put on their med lists Thinking about this patient I have who keeps getting urinary retention. I blamed his Benadryl plus one other med, but I will have to ask him about this. (Speaking of board style things - referred him to urology too but not sure he has gone - sick and with end stage lung disease anyway)
DancingWithDragons
I read this in Dr Sattar's voice.
howimetyomama
I narrate my life in Dr. Sattar’s voice.
[deleted]
It takes more than a dilated eye to keep down old Irontiddies. Sounds like a revolutionary warship.
irontiddies
i consider myself a panzer IV. thank you!
tenorsaxhero
Behold. The breasts of brass. The mithril mammaries.
bilbofraginz
The other guy was getting all the glory.
irontiddies
i thanked them both privately. any help is help to me!
mehefin
I read the side effects of that medication (qbrexza) and am just amazed it’s considered an option just to treat sweaty armpits!
LitigiousWhelk
As someone who sweats a lot, I can tell you it's easy to become desperate enough to be willing to try anything to make it stop.
KingSix_o_Things
OP's title sounds like a warped children's book.
EDIT: More in the series:
'Mr_Gray saves irontiddies from chlamydia.'
'Mr_Gray saves irontiddies from a gangrenous infection.'
Sickballs
FYI... Qbrexza (pronounced kew brex' zah) comes in individually packaged cloths (or wipes) that are to be used at home once per day to reduce underarm sweating. One wipe is intended for two underarms. The treatment works by blocking receptors responsible for sweat gland activation.
ramramramramramram
I love it when “best of” features a ridiculously awesome name like u/irontiddies
Rolten
Who the fuck has their eyes look like this for three days and not go to the doctor? Heck I might just go after an hour..
TheLastSparten
Uzorglemon
Americans, probably. God only knows how much they may get billed for...
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Only $125? Lucky! I had a $3,000 deductible before 80% payment coverage kicked in. One trip to the ER cost me thousands.
outworlder
This doesn’t seem like an emergency if there are no other symptoms. But then you would go to urgent care. Many health care providers have a sharp distinction between urgent and emergency care.
kokroo
Would one perpetually dilated eye be useful for a pirate at night, for night vision?
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RollingNinjas
Med student here who has worked in an ophthalmology office for a year prior to that.
Dilation drops should NOT be painful! There should only be a slight sting when the drop first hits your eye and then it should go away. The only other “pain” that can happen is if you walk outside without sunglasses on and the light becomes incredibly unmanageable (because your eyes are constantly dilated).
Also, only your “near/reading” vision should be blurry. Your “distance/far” vision should be totally fine. I hope that when you say “everything” is blurry, you just mean near.
If you’re having persistent ocular pain/discomfort and blurred vision with halos around lights (these may or may not happen) after you receive dilation drops, you could be having an acute angle attack.
The next time you see an ophthalmologist (I’m not sure if optometrists check this) tell them about your experience and ask them to check your eyes angles first before applying dilation drops.
By any chance, were your eye pressures elevated when you saw the optom/ophthalmologist?
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PyroDesu
I don't remember clearly if I see halos, but a better term would be starburst? Kind of like looking at an astronomy photo with stars in the foreground. (quick Google search: https://www.goodfreephotos.com/albums/astrophotography/great-stars-from-hubble.jpg)
Amateur astronomer here - that effect is called a diffraction spike. It's caused by light diffracting around the support vanes (holding secondary mirrors) in reflecting telescopes.
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outworlder
shed light
This is what brought the astronomer. They are like moths.
Unless they like radio astronomy better...
RollingNinjas
Do you see an ophthalmologist or an optometrist? You’re not dying lol. The thing about acute angles is that it can just be that. Your architecture in your eyes could just be normally narrow which can become worse when you get dilation drops in.
Astigmatism just refers to how your cornea is shaped and nearsightedness refers to how your eyeball in general is shaped. From my small understanding, it shouldn’t be a concern.
The reason why I asked about your pressures is that there’s a condition called “narrow angle glaucoma” in which the eyes fluid is restricted because of the narrow angles causing a buildup in pressure. Seems not as likely as you have normal pressures. Long term glaucoma can lead to blindness (but takes a while so nothing urgent). An ophthalmologist would have certainly pieced this together and maybe an optom would too (I don’t know much about their field of scope).
Just something to keep in mind because pain is definitely not normal.
707RiverRat
That username... Don't look into It's deadlights.
bill_tampa
In the middle ages, women applied plant extracts to their eyes to intentionally dilate the pupils, which was considered beautiful. One of the plants used was belladonna which means beautiful woman. This plant contains atropine and similar compounds. I think maybe the compound was applied to both eyes for a more symmetrical look.
cloud9ineteen
I wonder how many PMs OP got of normal looking eyes.
irontiddies
actually none. just guys wanting to fuck now based off my forehead.
cloud9ineteen
Haha. Although I meant the doctor because he said he was hoping to see some normal eyes soon.
SeorgeGoros
Weird. I wanna fuck cause of dem iron tiddies
[deleted]
God thats so gross though. If something is fucked up in your EYES you should be worried enough to go to the doctor.
IvoryAS
I honestly didn't think it'd be here this fast
That's pretty cool.
tenorsaxhero
The internet is a wonderful thing. You can get into any fucking hobby you want to. Beekeeping? r/beekeeping. Crochet? r/crochet.
RemyJe
I love that that is an actual WTF. I gave up on that sub 2 years ago because it turned into mostly gore posts.
OldWolf2
When i was on atropine eyedrops I was told that swallowing a drop would cause my heart to beat too fast and break ... seems dangerous to be handling
l-Made-This
I've see that before. It means she's about to attack.
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LoL. I checked my messages earlier and got no immediate hit, but read it on here. No new meds means NO new meds.
Ciellon 166 points · Jan 2019
Petition to make /u/Mr_Gray my doctor.
downwitheverything 111 points · Jan 2019
Petition to make /u/Mr_Gray /u/Dr_Gray
Dominus_Redditi 34 points · Jan 2019
You have a very professional demeanor, I believe it will serve you well in your medical career. Good luck with school, I’m sure you’ll make a great doctor!
th12eat 42 points · Jan 2019
OP isn't the med student. I assume he/she is a Dermatologist of some kind (or could also be a student--but the user who mentioned that was not this OP).
[deleted] 5 points · Jan 2019
Damn bro u reminded me why I want to become a doctor
Good job, and thx for the inspiration
bigwillyb123 4 points · Jan 2019
Good luck with everything! You're already helping strangers and making people's lives better, you'll make an amazing doctor
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