I have been in practice for over 23 years and am still amazed and astonished at the number of people that don't listen to my professional eye care advise and recommendations. People come to me with eye problems and ask me to solve them as well as make recommendations as to what the BEST solution would be for them. As such, based on my many years of experience, lectures, literature review etc, I advise them as to what I know is the correct answer to their problem.

If it is a medical issue requiring medication, I will prescribe the best pharmaceutical agent to get the fastest remediation of symptoms and at the same time be as safe as possible. As medications change so must my prescribing taking into account the patient's medical history. Thus, I often laugh to myself when a patient calls me from the drug store asking if there is a "cheaper" medication that will be "just as good." If there was, wouldn't I have given that drug to them instead of the one that I did? When I explain that there is "no generic version" or any substitute for that drug I still get comments like " well how about anything else? or do I really need it anyway?" If some one comes to me and has an infection requiring treatment, the answer is the drug that I prescribed, not " nothing" or "the drops that her sister once used for a cold sore!" People want my advise so long as it is what they wanted, not what they may need.
I even get patients that feel because they went on line once and read about certain medications that they are now qualified to prescribe drugs for everything from bed sores to HIV. As the saying goes, " a little knowledge is very dangerous."

Another favorite of mine is when a patient comes to me with vision or contact lens related complaints asking me to solve their problems. After a comprehensive eye exam I advise them as to what the options are and the best solution for them. Often they can not see well with their contacts or they hurt when they wear them. The simple answer is frequently a better fitting or quality lens. Thus I laugh when I tell them the lens that would solve their problems, but they don't want to wear that one. They would prefer wearing the one advertised on TV or the lens that their sister in law wore in Tibet!! I like asking them why they came to me if they did not want to follow my advise. Any fool on the street can tell them what they want to hear. If they want an educated, experienced, professional, answer they should be willing to listen and realize that the person they came to knows more then they do about the eyes. I love telling people that they are free to do what they want since it is the American way, and that they can go back "on line" when their eye get worse for the answer.

I am often reminded of the patient who came to me about 10 years ago with a raging eye infection wearing his wife's 3 year old soft contact lenses. He had a sexually transmitted disease called Chlamydia that caused a massive eye infection. Wearing the contact lenses was like throwing gas on a fire. I told him he needed to throw away that contaminated OLD contacts and start antibiotic treatment right away. He looked at me as though I was telling him to jump off a bridge. He then told me that he did not want to discard the contacts because they were his wife's and she would be angry with him. Forget about the fact that he contacted a sexually transmitted disease by sleeping with another woman and probably then gave it to his wife. He also refused to take any medication since he only believed in "self" treatment. He then went on to explain that self treatment meant using his own urine that he purified by straining it through his wife's nylon stockings as an eye drop.....need I say more!!

I made him sign a waiver that I did not condone his treatment and had advised him of a more scientifically tested treatment. I never did find out how he did or if he then gave the disgusting contact lenses back to his wife, but I always use him as a joke when ever I lecture to young doctors.

The point is, that we all seek professional advise from people that are better trained then we are for matters beyond our ability. We should listen to them and while asking questions is a good thing we must remember that we went to them for THEIR opinion. If we are not going to listen to them or go on line while we are still in their office for a different answer or cheaper lens, then don't waste any one's time. Doing the right thing often involves taking the advise of people that know more then we do about a condition. Use the Internet as a reference tool not a FREE doctor.