The "PRACTICE" of Medicine
I am always saying: if you have an eye problem, go to an eye doctor. The jack-of-all trades primary care doctors really don't know what to do with you. Just as another recent example of this, I was just sent a "picture quiz" from one of my medical apps. It detailed the case of an adult who had pain, redness and light sensitivity for weeks, despite using prednisolone (steroid) eyedrops (no word on how he got them, whether some other doc Rx'd those to him or he had them from some previous problem or he bought them OTC in Mexico or what). Here's the picture quiz with the multiple choice answers. The green check shows that I chose the correct answer (click the screenshot for a larger view): 
The biggest takeaway here is that given that rather obvious history and picture, still only 45% of medical docs made the right call. This is an app that almost all medical doctors and students have because it is specifically designed for MD's, so the vast majority of people taking this quiz are MD's. There are a few DDS's & OD's like me, but not many. This quiz is MOSTLY taken by MD's. So less than half of the respondants got the correct answer. That's pretty scary, especially given that there is really only one thing in medicine with that specific appearance of "dendrites". Nothing else even closely approximates that appearance, certainly not "keratoconjunctivits sicca" (dry eye) or "staphylococcal corneal ulcer" (bacterial infection). THE ONLY condition that causes dendrites like the ones in that picture is herpes simplex. So once again I say: IF YOU HAVE AN EYE PROBLEM, GO TO AN EYE DOCTOR. I kind of wished one of the answers had been "pink eye" because then I bet even less people would have chosen the correct answer. MD's can't stay away from a diagnosis of pink eye, haha. They did put "corneal abrasion" on there which is the other overly-diagnosed eye condition!
The biggest takeaway here is that given that rather obvious history and picture, still only 45% of medical docs made the right call. This is an app that almost all medical doctors and students have because it is specifically designed for MD's, so the vast majority of people taking this quiz are MD's. There are a few DDS's & OD's like me, but not many. This quiz is MOSTLY taken by MD's. So less than half of the respondants got the correct answer. That's pretty scary, especially given that there is really only one thing in medicine with that specific appearance of "dendrites". Nothing else even closely approximates that appearance, certainly not "keratoconjunctivits sicca" (dry eye) or "staphylococcal corneal ulcer" (bacterial infection). THE ONLY condition that causes dendrites like the ones in that picture is herpes simplex. So once again I say: IF YOU HAVE AN EYE PROBLEM, GO TO AN EYE DOCTOR. I kind of wished one of the answers had been "pink eye" because then I bet even less people would have chosen the correct answer. MD's can't stay away from a diagnosis of pink eye, haha. They did put "corneal abrasion" on there which is the other overly-diagnosed eye condition!
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