Recently about a week back my eyes became red and started watering. I initially thought it to be the regular welder arc, but something seemed peculiar about this in that it occurred in only the right eye. I got my eyes washed at the office Occupational Health Centre but the next day the pain and irritation started increasing, so I went to an ophthalmologist in a reputed hospital who diagnosed that I was having Thygeson Superficial Punctate Keratitis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thygeson's_superficial_punctate_keratopathy, a rare eye disease. He gave me 5 types of of eye drops and told me to report to him 2 days later. I went after two days, by now my pain had subsided due to the local anesthesia he gave me. He checked and told me to get admitted immediately so that he can perform the debridement of the affected epithelium (a sort of surgery). A host of lucky coincidental circumstances prevented me from getting admitted. I spoke to my seniors and they suggested me to get second opinion about the diagnosis and its treatment from other doctors. My parents helped me find a specialist in Matunga. So I went to him and told him the story so far. He checked and told me that I was suffering from Viral Keratitis, a common disease. He gave me an eye drop and an oinment and told me to stop all medicines from the previous doctors. I went to show my eyes today. I am almost cured without any surgery. However I have learnt a couple of lessons from this incident.
1. Always get a second opinion before undergoing any surgery.
2. The reputation of the hospital does not matter; hospitals are becoming more like 5 star hotels and in that somewhere diluting the actual reason for their existence. It does not matter if the hospital has state of the art equipment unless it has qualified doctors.
3. There a a hell lot of difference between root cause analysis in engineering problems and medical problems. You don't have "Take 2" in case of medical problems.
Hope you also learn from my mistake.
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