When I'm on the night shift, all the department heads can't sleep.

The man rested his chin on the support, and as soon as his forehead was firmly attached, the ophthalmologist removed the adhesive tape securing the hard eye patch.

The cover was removed and placed on a tray. As soon as her right eye was exposed, tears immediately streamed down her cheek.

"Keep your eyes straight ahead and don't follow the light. If you really can't hold it in, speak up."

I will try my best.

The ophthalmologist pushed the slit lamp closer, first scanning the cornea, pupil, and anterior chamber under white light. The man blinked involuntarily from the light, his forehead recoiling. The doctor tapped the support frame with his hand.

"Don't back up, I can't see clearly if you back up."

The man had no choice but to stick it back on.

"This light is even more dazzling than the high-powered lights in our workshop."

"Just bear with it, you'll finish watching it soon."

The ophthalmologist put a drop of topical anesthetic eye drops into his right eye for examination.

Once the stinging subsided, she moistened the fluorescein test strip with saline solution, gently touched the inner side of her lower eyelid, and then switched the light source to cobalt blue light.

The display screen next to the slit lamp lit up simultaneously.

Several previously barely visible scratches on the cornea were stained a bright green, thin and long, almost all running from top to bottom.

The man couldn't see the screen, but felt his right eye wasn't as irritated as before: "Did you find the wound?"

"There are a few abrasions on the corneal epithelium, none of them deep." The ophthalmologist's gaze remained fixed on the eyepiece. "The anterior chamber appears normal, and there was no leakage after staining."

Lin Ye's gaze fell on those few green streaks.

[Risk Gap: The abrasions are all in the same direction, and the source of continuous friction has not been eliminated]

The patient said as soon as he came in that the pain was most severe when he blinked.

The scratches on the ground are of varying lengths, but they run roughly parallel to each other.

"The scratches are all in the same direction." Lin Ye tapped the screen. "Like they were made by repeatedly rubbing against something while blinking."

The ophthalmologist followed his finger and scanned the green lines from beginning to end, then loosened the dimming knob and took a sterile cotton swab.

"Look down, I'll flip my upper eyelid."

She asked the man to look down, then used a cotton swab to support his upper eyelid and gently flipped it open.

On the upper inner side of the upper eyelid, there was a small, silvery-gray flake, not much larger than a pinhead. Without looking closely in the light, it was almost mixed with the moist conjunctiva.

"Don't move, there's still a grain stuck in your upper eyelid."

"Anything else?" The man instinctively tried to look up, but the doctor helped him back up as soon as his forehead left the support.

"Don't move your head. It's stuck to the inside of your eyelid, not into your eyeball."

The ophthalmologist changed to a moistened sterile cotton swab and gently swabbed along the conjunctival surface.

Silver-gray shavings stuck to the cotton head, which she then moved to a piece of white gauze.

As the cotton swab was placed on the gauze, the line of text at the edge of Lin Ye's vision slowly faded away.

The man finally looked up, squinting with his left eye as he peered at it for a long time: "Just this little bit? Why didn't the CT scan show it?"

"It's too small, and it's stuck to the inside of the upper eyelid, so it might not be visible on a CT scan." The ophthalmologist moved the gauze closer to him. "Luckily, it didn't pierce the eyeball. It's hidden deep there; you have to turn the eyelid up to find it."

"I clearly saw one come out of the pool, but who knew there was another one hidden inside."

"Every time you blink, it scrapes against your cornea. These scratches are all caused by this friction."

Jiang Wen handed over saline solution.

The ophthalmologist rinsed the conjunctival sac of the right eye and re-examined the cornea and palpebral conjunctiva, finding no further debris.

The man tried blinking a couple of times; tears were still flowing, but the scraping pain he had felt earlier had lessened considerably.

"It still hurts, but not like before, where it always feels like something is scratching around inside."

"The epithelial abrasion is still there; it's impossible for the pain to stop immediately." The ophthalmologist moved the slit lamp back. "Test the vision again, then dilate the pupils to examine the fundus."

Jiang Wen used it to cover her eyes.

The man stood back in front of the eye chart, and his right eye could still only read 0.8, but fortunately it wasn't worse than when he arrived.

He put the pupil-dilating drops in and leaned back in his chair. "How much longer do I have to wait?"

"Once the pupils dilate, examine the fundus again." The ophthalmologist put away the eye drops. "If no other problems are found, treat it as a corneal abrasion."

While waiting for the medication to take effect, Lin Ye added the location of the foreign object, the process of its removal, and the follow-up vision test to the medical record.

The man sat to one side, his right pupil slowly dilating, the overhead light shining down on him even more blindingly than before.

He turned his phone brightness down to the lowest setting, swiped twice, and then put it back in his toolbox.

He turned his face to the side twice.

Jiang Wen moved the chair half a circle to the side so that he could sit with his back to the light: "Don't hold your phone up to your eyes, or your vision will be even worse later."

"I'm not looking anymore; the closer I get to my right eye, the blurrier it gets."

After the pupils dilated, the ophthalmologist carefully examined the fundus again and found no abnormalities such as vitreous hemorrhage or retinal tears before entering the consultation opinion into the system.

"The debris in the upper eyelid has been removed, and the cornea has a superficial abrasion. Based on the CT scan and current examination, there are no signs of open eye damage. Surgery and hospitalization are not required."

The man's tense shoulders relaxed: "Then can I go back to the factory this afternoon, sit and do the registration, and not touch the machines?"

"Don't go back to the workshop today." The ophthalmologist handed the prescription to Lin Ye. "You just had your pupils dilated, so your near vision is blurry, and you can't drive either. Use the antibacterial eye drops and artificial tears as prescribed, and come back for a follow-up appointment at the ophthalmology clinic tomorrow."

"After my follow-up appointment tomorrow, can I go back to the cutting table?"

"It depends on whether the cornea has healed properly during the follow-up examination. Before it has healed, you cannot touch it during the cutting procedure or in a dusty environment."

The man remembered the eye drops he'd used before the examination: "Those eye drops worked pretty well, could you prescribe a bottle for me too?"

"Those are topical anesthetic eye drops for the examination; you can't take them home and use them yourself." The ophthalmologist pushed the prescription forward a bit. "Just use the medication as prescribed; don't buy other eye drops on your own."

After the ophthalmology consultation concluded, Lin Ye returned to his workstation, discontinued the temporary fasting and water restriction orders, and entered the medication dosage according to the consultation's recommendations.

He turned to the man and reminded him, "You can drink water now."

The man took out a bottle of mineral water from the side pocket of his tool bag, unscrewed the cap, and drank almost half of the bottle in one gulp: "Two steamed buns this morning, I've finally made it this far."

Lin Ye carefully handed him the prescription, follow-up appointment slip, and diagnosis certificate: "Apply the two types of eye drops every five to ten minutes, and don't let the bottle tip touch your eyes. Don't go into the workshop today, and don't drive yourself. If the pain suddenly worsens tonight, your vision becomes more blurry, or there is a significant increase in discharge, don't wait until tomorrow, go straight to the hospital."

The man placed the medical certificate on top, then glanced at the bits of tissue on the gauze: "Can I take a picture of this? The safety officer is waiting to register us."

"Take the photos, and send the diagnosis certificate along with them."

The class monitor quickly replied as soon as the photos and proof were sent out.

[I saw it. Register this with the safety officer. Don't come back today; let your eyes recover first.]

The man held up the screen for Lin Ye to see: "Then I'll go get the medicine first, and then take a taxi home."

Jiang Wen took the goggles out of the tool bag and put them back in his hand: "Keep them safe. Bring them to your follow-up appointment tomorrow, so you don't forget the pain once the wound heals."

"I'll never forget this one. This one hidden under my eyelid will stay with me for half a year."

After the patient left, Lin Ye returned to his workstation, added the fundus findings and ophthalmology consultation conclusions to the discharge record, and checked the prescription and follow-up appointment time again.

He signed his name at the end of the record and changed the medical record status to "discharged".

The phone on the corner of the table vibrated as soon as I submitted the signature.

It's a new notification from the hospital's staff platform.

[The salary calculation information for this position has been updated. Please log in to view it.]