Dr. Chris Thiagarajah Presents Oculoplastics Lecture at TLC Tysons Corner CE

Post date: Dec 03, 2012 4:34:36 AM

Dr. Christopher Thiagarajah presented an interesting lecture on oculoplastics at the last installment of the TLC Tysons Corner CE series for 2012 this past Wednesday evening.

Most of us in attendance were able to get dinner completed before all of Dr. Thiagarajah's oculoplastics photographs got under way. It's a good thing! Among the most memorable of the pictures ...

- the smiley face pencil that was stuck deep into a kid's eye,

- a full knife blade that was seen on X-ray going from the upper lid all the way down through the upper palate of the mouth (and the dude didn't even know that the knife was there), and

- the award for bloodiest picture goes to ... a lady who kept complaining that her lower eyelid was droopy despite multiple procedures, and they come to find that she has cancer which required the removal of basically all the skin of her left bottom eyelid and nose and cheek.

YUCK! I don't know how Dr. Thiagarajah deals with all that messiness himself, but I am quite proud of myself for remaining upright during the entire lecture. I do have a tendency toward fainting at times. Staff manning the registration table reported an increased number of doctors needing fresh air during the lecture. That's a sure sign of a good oculoplastics discussion! : )

I did learn a few new factoids:

Did you know that the medial canthus is the weakest part of the eye? Dr. Thiagarajah mentioned that the medial rectus is often damaged when the eye sustains trauma or injury because of its weak nature.

Also, I am almost positive that I did not know of the oculo-cardiac reflex. Seems like compression to the eye or trauma to the extraocular muscles can sometimes cause the pulse rate to decrease and the heart rate can become irregular. Looks like we have to be more careful when checking IOP by palpation!

And, if we were ever to see these types of conditions or injuries mentioned in his lecture, if we are sure that it is not immediately life-threatening, then it would be more worthwhile to refer the patient directly into an oculoplastics specialist like Dr. Thiagarajah versus the ER.

If you're looking to refer patients to Dr. Thiagarajah, he does have multiple offices, mostly in Maryland and DC. However, if we twist his arm enough, I wonder if he'd ever consider coming to Virginia. His practice website is http://www.dceyelid.com/ , and I also found this cute little interview with him on the American Academy of Ophthalmology website from back when he was a Fellow. - jw