Podcast
Knock Knock, Hi! with the Glaucomfleckens
Hosted by Human Content · EN
"Knock Knock, Hi! with the Glaucomfleckens" dives into the highs, lows, and WTFs of healthcare. Whether you're in the medical field, live with a healthcare worker, or broke your arm once and are still paying off your medical bills, this is a must-listen. Join Will and Kristin Flanary (aka the Glaucomfleckens) for candid chats with leading healthcare voices like Dr. Mike and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. Discover fun facts about eyeballs, hear relatable stories from medical training, and sneak a peek into the U.S. health insurance industry (spoiler alert: it's not great!). We'll share our own perspectives of being a patient or family member experiencing the healthcare system. And, of course, we explore the question on everyone's minds: "Why has Dr. Glaucomflecken never had his eyes dilated?" Combining science with humor and a dash of snark, we unpack the human side of healthcare.
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Knock Knock Eye: World Cup Eye Injuries: An Ophthalmologist's Field Guide
6d ago00:31:58Tap to summarizeI'm on call July 4th for the first time in what feels like forever, and I have fully lost perspective on what call should feel like. 2018 me, fresh out of an Iowa trauma center, would be horrified at how nervous private practice me has gotten about it. I'll report back after the holiday. Today's main event is World Cup eye injuries. Every professional sport needs an ophthalmologist on the sideline, soccer included, and I walk through three I'd be ready for. First, a 50 MPH ball off Erling Haaland the Viking's foot straight to the face, hyphema, open globe risk at the equator and limbus, retinal dialysis in young patients. Second, a player smashing their face on a goalpost, orbital floor fractures, the workup for extra-ocular muscle entrapment, and a full breakdown of eyelid laceration repair: above brow, below brow, eyelid margin, and canalicular. Third, the soccer flop, where grass exposure can deliver a corneal abrasion or an allergic reaction, and the drops I reach for. I've got more on deck if the tournament keeps giving me material. Takeaways: A high-velocity soccer ball to the face can cause hyphema (sheared vessels in the anterior chamber), an open globe at one of the eye's two weak points (the equator behind the extra-ocular muscles and the limbus at the edge of the cornea), or a retinal dialysis, especially in younger patients Hyphema management is driven by eye pressure: normal pressure means strict couch-potato rest until the blood clears, because a second bleed is always worse than the first; very high pressure may require surgical evacuation A face-into-goalpost impact most commonly causes an orbital floor fracture; suspected extraocular muscle entrapment is a PANTS patient, the ophthalmologist comes in, the orbit gets scanned, and forced duction testing rules entrapment in or out Eyelid laceration repair depends on location: above the brow is straightforward, below the brow uses skin-only sutures because there's an eyeball underneath, eyelid margin lacerations require specialized technique, and canalicular lacerations need temporary tube placement Even a soccer flop can cause real eye injury, grass exposure can lead to corneal abrasion or an allergic reaction in the fornix, treated first-line with antihistamine drops like Patanol, Pataday, or Zaditor, with short-course topical steroids for severe cases To Get Tickets to Wife & Death: You can visit Glaucomflecken.com/live We want to hear YOUR stories (and medical puns)! Shoot us an email and say hi! knockknockhi@human-content.com Can’t get enough of us? Shucks. You can support the show on Patreon for early episode access, exclusive bonus shows, livestream hangouts, and much more! – http://www.patreon.com/glaucomflecken Also, be sure to check out the newsletter: https://glaucomflecken.com/glauc-to-me/ If you are interested in buying a book from one of our guests, check them all out here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/dr.glaucomflecken If you want more information on models I use: Anatomy Warehouse provides for the best, crafting custom anatomical products, medical simulation kits and presentation models that create a lasting educational impact. For more information go to Anatomy Warehouse DOT com. Link: https://anatomywarehouse.com/?aff=14 Plus for 15% off use code: Glaucomflecken15 -- A friendly reminder from the G’s and Tarsus: If you want to learn more about Demodex Blepharitis, making an appointment with your eye doctor for an eyelid exam can help you know for sure. Visit http://www.EyelidCheck.com for more information. Produced by Human Content Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Is the Match Broken? A Deep Dive into Medical Education with Dr. Bryan Carmody
1w ago01:05:30Tap to summarizeI've been watching the Sheriff of Sodium break down medical education data on social media for years, so I'm thrilled to finally have Dr. Bryan Carmody on the show to help me understand what's actually happening to the system that turns medical students into doctors. We start with the basics What the Match is, why it was created in the 1950s to solve a headhunting problem that was stressing everyone out, and how the algorithm actually works. We quickly get into what's gone sideways since then: the residency selection arms race, where every year applicants have more publications, higher board scores, and more research experiences than the year before, and yet the match rate hasn't moved, meaning they've all just collectively agreed to suffer more for the same outcome. Bryan also breaks down what happened when Step 1 went pass/fail and the uncomfortable fact that about 25% of medical student publications have never been cited by anyone, ever. We also go through the 2026 Match data, who's thriving, who's struggling, and what it actually means when programs can't fill their spots. Bryan puts the "physician shortage" debate in real context: it's not that we don't have enough doctors, it's that we've created terrible incentives for where doctors practice and what they do. We get into international medical graduates, the growth of new medical schools, and the signaling system, a newer mechanism that tries to fix the problem of people applying to 200 programs just to hedge their bets. I also reveal that stand-up comedy is what got me my residency interviews, which honestly tracks. Takeaways: The residency selection arms race is real but largely self-defeating, match rates for US medical students haven't meaningfully changed, meaning all the extra publications, research experiences, and board prep have just raised the floor without helping anyone actually get ahead. The "physician shortage" is mostly a distribution and incentives problem, not a numbers problem, there are about 1.3 residency positions for every graduating US MD/DO, and the real issue is that doctors rationally choose to practice in places with better pay, better amenities, and better working conditions. We probably don't need more medical schools, the constraint isn't classrooms, it's clinical training sites, and adding more schools without more high-quality hospital rotations just dilutes an already strained system. Family medicine, pediatrics, and emergency medicine are the specialties with the most unfilled residency spots and it's a combination of too many new programs being created and not enough applicants choosing those fields, driven by the same incentive mismatches that cause geographic maldistribution. Signaling is a genuine improvement to a broken application process, it gives programs a way to identify applicants who actually want to be there, rather than sifting through hundreds of applications from people who clicked every available program just to maximize their odds. — Want more Dr. Bryan Carmody: @jbcarmody on X/Instagram/Threads/Bluesky and Sheriff of Sodium on YouTube. To Get Tickets to Wife & Death: You can visit Glaucomflecken.com/live We want to hear YOUR stories (and medical puns)! Shoot us an email and say hi! knockknockhi@human-content.com Can’t get enough of us? Shucks. You can support the show on Patreon for early episode access, exclusive bonus shows, livestream hangouts, and much more! – http://www.patreon.com/glaucomflecken Also, be sure to check out the newsletter: https://glaucomflecken.com/glauc-to-me/ If you are interested in buying a book from one of our guests, check them all out here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/dr.glaucomflecken If you want more information on models I use: Anatomy Warehouse provides for the best, crafting custom anatomical products, medical simulation kits and presentation models that create a lasting educational impact. For more information go to Anatomy Warehouse DOT com. Link: https://anatomywarehouse.com/?aff=14 Plus for 15% off use code: Glaucomflecken15 -- A friendly reminder from the G’s and Tarsus: If you want to learn more about Demodex Blepharitis, making an appointment with your eye doctor for an eyelid exam can help you know for sure. Visit http://www.EyelidCheck.com for more information. Produced by Human Content Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Knock Knock Eye: Mark Cuban's Case for Medicare for All and Total Financial Transparency
2w ago00:25:07Tap to summarizeA few things on the agenda today. First, RFK Jr. and the MAHA crew want medical schools to dedicate around 40 hours, roughly 20% of preclinical training, to nutrition education. I have some thoughts. We already have dietitians, med school is already a fire hydrant, and the Krebs cycle had it coming, but this isn't the way. Then a Mark Cuban appreciation segment, because he's out there on X dragging the entire healthcare system toward transparency. His latest pitch: someone buy a hospital, charge Medicare rates for every single thing, expose every dollar in and out, and prove whether Medicare for All can actually work. In theory, I'm in. In practice, you can't slash physician pay without first addressing the $500,000 in debt that gets people into the door. The Australian model, a real public safety net coexisting with a private system, makes more sense to me, but only if we fix the training pipeline first. After the break, ophthalmology. A young man got a bamboo shoot to the eye six months ago. Healed up fine. Now he's waking up at 2 AM in excruciating pain, no trauma involved. That's a recurrent corneal erosion. I walk through why it happens, why CPAP can make it worse, and the whole treatment ladder, ointment, bandage contact lenses, superficial keratectomy, corneal micropuncture. Also: don't let your cornea melt. That's the headline. Takeaways: RFK Jr. and MAHA are pushing medical schools to dedicate around 40 hours, or 20%, of preclinical training to nutrition, a shift that ignores the existence of dietitians and would crowd out essential physiology and disease education Mark Cuban has floated a real-world test case for Medicare for All: buy a hospital, charge only Medicare rates, and operate with complete financial transparency to show whether the model is sustainable Any serious move toward Medicare for All or an Australian-style public-private hybrid will require addressing the roughly $500K in training debt physicians carry; otherwise the math doesn't work and recruitment collapses Recurrent corneal erosion happens when an old abrasion never fully reattaches to the underlying stroma, patients typically wake up in severe pain because the eyelid scrapes loose epithelium across a dry cornea overnight, and CPAP without a good seal makes it worse Treatment escalates from aggressive nighttime lubrication (erythromycin ointment, Genteal gel) to a bandage contact lens, and in stubborn cases to a superficial keratectomy or corneal micropuncture to create a smoother, more firmly attached corneal surface To Get Tickets to Wife & Death: You can visit Glaucomflecken.com/live We want to hear YOUR stories (and medical puns)! Shoot us an email and say hi! knockknockhi@human-content.com Can’t get enough of us? Shucks. You can support the show on Patreon for early episode access, exclusive bonus shows, livestream hangouts, and much more! – http://www.patreon.com/glaucomflecken Also, be sure to check out the newsletter: https://glaucomflecken.com/glauc-to-me/ If you are interested in buying a book from one of our guests, check them all out here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/dr.glaucomflecken If you want more information on models I use: Anatomy Warehouse provides for the best, crafting custom anatomical products, medical simulation kits and presentation models that create a lasting educational impact. For more information go to Anatomy Warehouse DOT com. Link: https://anatomywarehouse.com/?aff=14 Plus for 15% off use code: Glaucomflecken15 -- A friendly reminder from the G’s and Tarsus: If you want to learn more about Demodex Blepharitis, making an appointment with your eye doctor for an eyelid exam can help you know for sure. Visit http://www.EyelidCheck.com for more information. Produced by Human Content Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Everything You're Getting Wrong About Sleep with Sleep Doctor Chris
2w ago01:00:20Tap to summarizeThis week we sit down with Dr. Chris Allen, board-certified sleep medicine physician, board-certified pediatric neurologist, and a man who has been on CPAP therapy for 22 years. We cover how a sleep study actually works, the real misconceptions around sleep apnea, why CPAP isn't the only treatment option, and what the difference is between a home sleep test and a full in-lab polysomnogram. Oh, and we get into parasomnias, which is the fancy medical word for "doing things in your sleep you shouldn't be doing", a category that, as Kristin helpfully reveals, includes me putting on dress pants in the middle of the night and getting back into bed. We also go deep on kids and sleep. Turns out a lot of children diagnosed with ADHD actually have undiagnosed sleep apnea, and treating it can change everything. Plus night terrors , revenge bedtime procrastination, neurodivergent sleep challenges, and why your brain isn't actually out to get you, it just really needs you to stop scrolling. Chris also has a children's book called Sweet Dreams, which is his personal story adapted for kids, and it's exactly the kind of advocacy that makes this stuff actually land. Takeaways: Snoring is never normal, it always means your airway is partially obstructed during sleep, and while it doesn't automatically mean sleep apnea, it's always worth asking the questions. Sleep apnea isn't just a "big guy" problem, anyone can have it regardless of body size, it affects women at the same rate as men after menopause, and in children it often shows up as inattention, hyperactivity, and moodiness that gets mistaken for ADHD. CPAP is great but it's not the only treatment, there are multiple ways to treat obstructive sleep apnea depending on your anatomy, age, and situation, so don't let the Darth Vader mask reputation scare you away from getting evaluated. Parasomnias like sleepwalking, night terrors, and confusional arousals are all under one umbrella, they're common, they're often made worse by other untreated sleep disorders, and there are actual medications that can help if they're disruptive enough. Revenge bedtime procrastination is real and your brain chemistry explains it, caffeine blocks adenosine (your sleep hunger signal), screens suppress melatonin, and cortisol from daily stress keeps your fight-or-flight response lit, which is why 11 PM you keeps doing laundry instead of going to bed. — To Get Tickets to Wife & Death: You can visit Glaucomflecken.com/live We want to hear YOUR stories (and medical puns)! Shoot us an email and say hi! knockknockhi@human-content.com Can’t get enough of us? Shucks. You can support the show on Patreon for early episode access, exclusive bonus shows, livestream hangouts, and much more! – http://www.patreon.com/glaucomflecken Also, be sure to check out the newsletter: https://glaucomflecken.com/glauc-to-me/ If you are interested in buying a book from one of our guests, check them all out here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/dr.glaucomflecken If you want more information on models I use: Anatomy Warehouse provides for the best, crafting custom anatomical products, medical simulation kits and presentation models that create a lasting educational impact. For more information go to Anatomy Warehouse DOT com. Link: https://anatomywarehouse.com/?aff=14 Plus for 15% off use code: Glaucomflecken15 -- A friendly reminder from the G’s and Tarsus: If you want to learn more about Demodex Blepharitis, making an appointment with your eye doctor for an eyelid exam can help you know for sure. Visit http://www.EyelidCheck.com for more information. Produced by Human Content Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Knock Knock Eye: Is Medical Recertification a Money Grab?
3w ago00:41:31Tap to summarizeI just watched The Backrooms and now I can't stop thinking about hospital liminal spaces. The basement. The pathology lab. The OR at 2 AM when you're going in for an open globe. We start there. Then a great Spotify question pulls me into ophthalmology boards, what the written test is like, the oral exam I took inside an examiner's actual hotel room (with their luggage in the corner) during a hotel workers' strike in San Francisco, the $2,000 fee, and why the whole recertification industry feels like a money grab. Also a quick rant about why physicians start their careers $400K in the hole and a decade behind everyone else. The main event is a tale of two health systems. You already know PeaceHealth in Eugene, where the emergency physicians fought back, used Oregon's corporate practice of medicine law, and took it to court. Now meet Valley Health in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, where CEO Mark Nance just cancelled the contract for EMBER (Emergency Medicine of Blue Ridge) and handed it to SCP Healthm a private equity outfit backed by Canada's Onex Corporation. Same Apollo MD playbook. Same damage. But Virginia has no corporate practice of medicine law, no physician union, and no nurses' union, and Valley Health is flush with cash while blaming Medicaid cuts. I'm fed up, and I'm going to keep making this content as long as people keep sending it to me. Takeaways: Valley Health in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley cancelled its 20-plus-year contract with EMBER (Emergency Medicine of Blue Ridge) and handed it to SCP Health, a private equity-backed corporation owned by Canada's Onex Corporation, mirroring the Apollo MD/PeaceHealth situation in Eugene Despite blaming Medicaid cuts from the "Big Beautiful Bill," Valley Health holds over $1 billion in assets, $700 million in cash reserves, and reported $100 million in net profit in 2024 and continues to build new facilities Valley Health has also forced out Front Royal Family Practice under CEO Mark Nance, revealing a broader pattern of consolidating independent groups and eliminating physician autonomy Virginia has no corporate practice of medicine law, no physician union, and no nurses' union, leaving healthcare workers without the legal and organizational protections that allowed the Eugene physicians to fight back successfully Ophthalmology board recertification, board exam fees, and roughly $400K in training debt mean most physicians don't start meaningful earnings until age 31 or later, a financial reality often missing from broader debates about physician pay To Get Tickets to Wife & Death: You can visit Glaucomflecken.com/live We want to hear YOUR stories (and medical puns)! Shoot us an email and say hi! knockknockhi@human-content.com Can’t get enough of us? Shucks. You can support the show on Patreon for early episode access, exclusive bonus shows, livestream hangouts, and much more! – http://www.patreon.com/glaucomflecken Also, be sure to check out the newsletter: https://glaucomflecken.com/glauc-to-me/ If you are interested in buying a book from one of our guests, check them all out here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/dr.glaucomflecken If you want more information on models I use: Anatomy Warehouse provides for the best, crafting custom anatomical products, medical simulation kits and presentation models that create a lasting educational impact. For more information go to Anatomy Warehouse DOT com. Link: https://anatomywarehouse.com/?aff=14 Plus for 15% off use code: Glaucomflecken15 -- A friendly reminder from the G’s and Tarsus: If you want to learn more about Demodex Blepharitis, making an appointment with your eye doctor for an eyelid exam can help you know for sure. Visit http://www.EyelidCheck.com for more information. Produced by Human Content Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Understanding Mitochondrial Disease with Dr. Heather Gatcombe
3w ago01:01:19Tap to summarizeDr. Heather Gatcombe, a clinical radiation oncologist at Emory, who immediately humbles me by explaining that her job involves a lot more than drawing circles on a screen, it involves medical physics boards, cancer biology exams, and oral evaluations with the world's leading subspecialty experts. I'm putting radiation oncology in my "insanely smart doctors" tier, effective immediately. But Heather isn't just here to talk about contouring tumors. When her son was in second grade, his teacher noticed he couldn't move half his body and called 911. By the time EMS arrived, he seemed fine. Thus began a five-year diagnostic odyssey involving genetic testing, a muscle biopsy, a "variant of unknown significance," and ultimately a diagnosis of mitochondrial disease, a mutation that disrupts the body's ability to produce energy at the cellular level and can affect, well, pretty much every organ system you've got. We get into all of it: what metabolic strokes actually are (an energy failure, not a clot), how heat, fasting, and illness can trigger a crisis, why the average time to diagnosis is a decade, and what happened when Heather's son arrived at the ER during COVID in acute heart failure and ended up on ECMO within 10 hours. He was 12. He received a heart transplant. He's now 17, knows his own body better than most doctors in the room, and asks for naps between soccer and his SATs. We also talk about what clinicians and patients can actually do to change the odds, including the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation's mini-fellowship program at umdf.org. And yes, I finally admit the Krebs cycle is useful. The sad medical geneticist at the lunch table was right all along. Takeaways: Mitochondrial disease is a mutation that disrupts cellular energy production, affecting about 1 in 4,000 people, capable of impacting virtually any organ system, and taking an average of 10 years to diagnose in adults because it presents so differently in every patient. A metabolic stroke is an energy failure, not a vascular event, a part of the brain simply runs out of fuel and shuts down, and it's treated with dextrose-containing IV fluids and IV arginine rather than clot-busting drugs. For patients with mitochondrial disease, managing triggers is everything, fever, fasting, dehydration, heat, certain anesthetics, and even intense cognitive or physical stress can all precipitate a metabolic crisis or stroke. Even having two physician parents and strong institutional connections didn't speed up the diagnosis, it still took five years, and for families without those resources, the average wait is closer to a decade, especially outside the Northeast where most of the 19 certified mitochondrial care centers are located. There's a critical shortage of mitochondrial disease specialists, and the UMDF is working to fix it, their mini-fellowship program at umdf.org is open to residents and fellows PGY3 and above across all specialties, because mitochondria are in every cell and every kind of doctor needs to know what to look for. — To Get Tickets to Wife & Death: You can visit Glaucomflecken.com/live We want to hear YOUR stories (and medical puns)! Shoot us an email and say hi! knockknockhi@human-content.com Can’t get enough of us? Shucks. You can support the show on Patreon for early episode access, exclusive bonus shows, livestream hangouts, and much more! – http://www.patreon.com/glaucomflecken Also, be sure to check out the newsletter: https://glaucomflecken.com/glauc-to-me/ If you are interested in buying a book from one of our guests, check them all out here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/dr.glaucomflecken If you want more information on models I use: Anatomy Warehouse provides for the best, crafting custom anatomical products, medical simulation kits and presentation models that create a lasting educational impact. For more information go to Anatomy Warehouse DOT com. Link: https://anatomywarehouse.com/?aff=14 Plus for 15% off use code: Glaucomflecken15 -- A friendly reminder from the G’s and Tarsus: If you want to learn more about Demodex Blepharitis, making an appointment with your eye doctor for an eyelid exam can help you know for sure. Visit http://www.EyelidCheck.com for more information. Produced by Human Content Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Breaking News: A Game-Changing Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer with Dr. Mark Lewis
4w ago00:36:39Tap to summarizeWe're dropping this bonus episode because something genuinely historic happened in oncology and we couldn't wait until our regular schedule to talk about it. Dr. Mark Lewis, GI medical oncologist, pancreatic cancer survivor, and one of our absolute favorite guests. He just got back from ASCO, the Super Bowl of oncology, where a new drug called daraxonrasib received one of only about six standing ovations in the conference's history, including applause that broke out mid-sentence when researchers showed the survival data on-screen. The drug targets a mutation that drives the vast majority of pancreatic cancer and has been considered "undruggable" for decades and it works not by attacking the mutation directly, but by cutting off the downstream signals it sends, like snipping the wire instead of fighting with the switch. The results are remarkable. In patients who had already received standard chemotherapy, daraxonrasib roughly doubled survival time and delivered it in pill form rather than an IV every two weeks, a meaningful quality-of-life difference for people who are already facing the hardest year of their lives. Mark walks us through the science, the side effects (rash, because RAS proteins live in skin too), the path to FDA approval, and what this means beyond pancreatic cancer, the same KRAS mutations show up in about 30% of lung cancers and 40% of colon cancers. Takeaways: Pancreatic cancer has been devastatingly hard to treat, 85% of patients are incurable at diagnosis because it spreads silently and there's no good screening, leaving most patients with a median survival of about a year on IV chemotherapy. KRAS, the mutation driving nearly all pancreatic cancer, was long considered "undruggable", the protein was so smooth and spherical that no drug could bind to it, and researchers were actively discouraged from pursuing it as a target. Daraxonrasib works by cutting the power rather than fighting the switch, instead of binding to the KRAS protein itself, it uses molecular glue to interrupt the downstream growth signals the mutation sends, an approach that took decades to develop and wasn't taken seriously until now. The trial results roughly doubled survival and the treatment is a daily pill, not an IV, patients who had already been treated with chemotherapy gained approximately an additional year of life with improved quality of life, which represents one of the most significant advances in pancreatic cancer treatment in decades. This breakthrough has implications far beyond the pancreas, KRAS mutations drive about 30% of lung cancers and 40% of colon cancers too, and proving the target is druggable opens the door to a new generation of treatments across multiple cancer types. Want more Dr. Mark Lewis? X: @marklewismd To Get Tickets to Wife & Death: You can visit Glaucomflecken.com/live We want to hear YOUR stories (and medical puns)! Shoot us an email and say hi! knockknockhi@human-content.com Can’t get enough of us? Shucks. You can support the show on Patreon for early episode access, exclusive bonus shows, livestream hangouts, and much more! – http://www.patreon.com/glaucomflecken Also, be sure to check out the newsletter: https://glaucomflecken.com/glauc-to-me/ If you are interested in buying a book from one of our guests, check them all out here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/dr.glaucomflecken If you want more information on models I use: Anatomy Warehouse provides for the best, crafting custom anatomical products, medical simulation kits and presentation models that create a lasting educational impact. For more information go to Anatomy Warehouse DOT com. Link: https://anatomywarehouse.com/?aff=14 Plus for 15% off use code: Glaucomflecken15 -- A friendly reminder from the G’s and Tarsus: If you want to learn more about Demodex Blepharitis, making an appointment with your eye doctor for an eyelid exam can help you know for sure. Visit http://www.EyelidCheck.com for more information. Produced by Human Content Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Glauc Talk: The Mystery of My Unknown Genetic Mutation
4w ago00:46:41Tap to summarizeI’m back from a whirlwind speaking tour where I realized my entire social media presence might just be a long-con ruse to get a captive audience of 1,000 electrophysiologists to look at my genetic testing report. I officially "locked the doors" at the Heart Rhythm Society in Chicago until someone could tell me if my phospholamban mutation actually means anything. Spoiler alert: I met the guy who literally mapped the gene, and he reassured me it’s a "variant of no significance," which is way more comforting than "uncertain significance". I also had a run-in with a couple at a pool in Florida who were dreading the "entertainment guy" with the weird name, only for me to lean over and put them out of their misery. The real drama this week, though, is in the courtroom: corporate medicine is on trial in Oregon. I’m breaking down the "dummy LLC" loophole that allows out-of-state corporations to replace local, physician-owned groups with locums who don’t know the community. We dive into the PeaceHealth fiasco in Eugene, where a CEO is currently on administrative leave following whistleblower emails that suggest clinical decisions were being influenced for profit. It’s a messy look at hospital contract shenanigans and why having doctors invested in their own community actually matters for patient safety. Takeaways: The "Dummy LLC" legal maneuver corporations use to bypass state laws meant to keep medicine physician-owned. How I used a 20-foot screen and a captive audience of specialists to get a second opinion on my own genetic mutation. The "cardiology confident" reassurance I received about my heart from the man who mapped the phospholamban protein. Why the CEO of a major Oregon hospital is on administrative leave following whistleblower emails about clinical interference. — To Get Tickets to Wife & Death: You can visit Glaucomflecken.com/live We want to hear YOUR stories (and medical puns)! Shoot us an email and say hi! knockknockhi@human-content.com Can’t get enough of us? Shucks. You can support the show on Patreon for early episode access, exclusive bonus shows, livestream hangouts, and much more! – http://www.patreon.com/glaucomflecken Also, be sure to check out the newsletter: https://glaucomflecken.com/glauc-to-me/ If you are interested in buying a book from one of our guests, check them all out here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/dr.glaucomflecken If you want more information on models I use: Anatomy Warehouse provides for the best, crafting custom anatomical products, medical simulation kits and presentation models that create a lasting educational impact. For more information go to Anatomy Warehouse DOT com. Link: https://anatomywarehouse.com/?aff=14 Plus for 15% off use code: Glaucomflecken15 -- A friendly reminder from the G’s and Tarsus: If you want to learn more about Demodex Blepharitis, making an appointment with your eye doctor for an eyelid exam can help you know for sure. Visit http://www.EyelidCheck.com for more information. Produced by Human Content Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Knock Knock Eye: Victor Wembanyama Has the Strictest Bedtime and a Pair of Blue Light Glasses
Jun 400:36:49Tap to summarizeVictor Wembanyama, the 7'5" alien playing for the Spurs, apparently refuses to look at blue light after 9pm, which allows me to get into my love-hate relationship with blue light glasses, the misinformation campaign that has them treating everything from dry eye to macular degeneration, and the one claim that actually holds up: sleep and circadian rhythm. Then a great Patreon question drops me into retinopathy of prematurity. What it is, why preemies are vulnerable, and how oxygen, vascularization, and laser treatment all fit together. From there, the bigger problem: 90% of U.S. counties don't have a single pediatric eye specialist. Four states, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, have zero pediatric ophthalmologists. And surprise, this comes right back to private equity, because every Knock Knock Eye episode does. Takeaways: Blue light blocking glasses have one evidence-based benefit: improving sleep by helping regulate circadian rhythm. Claims about reducing dry eye, eye strain, or preventing macular degeneration are not supported by the data. Retinopathy of prematurity is caused by a mismatch between an underdeveloped retina and the oxygen exposure premature infants receive — too much supplemental oxygen damages fragile capillaries and can lead to neovascularization, retinal detachment, and blindness. 90% of U.S. counties have no pediatric eye specialist, and New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont have zero pediatric ophthalmologists at all, driven by low reimbursement rates and consolidation that deprioritizes the subspecialty. Private equity-owned ophthalmology practices aren't expanding into pediatric care because it isn't profitable, kids need Medicaid coverage, not cataracts and LASIK, leaving rural and Medicaid families with the fewest options. A 2025 JAMA Ophthalmology study on AI screening for ROP found the model was sensitive but not specific, it can flag disease, but it still can't determine which babies actually need laser treatment, so human ophthalmologists remain essential. To Get Tickets to Wife & Death: You can visit Glaucomflecken.com/live We want to hear YOUR stories (and medical puns)! Shoot us an email and say hi! knockknockhi@human-content.com Can’t get enough of us? Shucks. You can support the show on Patreon for early episode access, exclusive bonus shows, livestream hangouts, and much more! – http://www.patreon.com/glaucomflecken Also, be sure to check out the newsletter: https://glaucomflecken.com/glauc-to-me/ If you are interested in buying a book from one of our guests, check them all out here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/dr.glaucomflecken If you want more information on models I use: Anatomy Warehouse provides for the best, crafting custom anatomical products, medical simulation kits and presentation models that create a lasting educational impact. For more information go to Anatomy Warehouse DOT com. Link: https://anatomywarehouse.com/?aff=14 Plus for 15% off use code: Glaucomflecken15 -- A friendly reminder from the G’s and Tarsus: If you want to learn more about Demodex Blepharitis, making an appointment with your eye doctor for an eyelid exam can help you know for sure. Visit http://www.EyelidCheck.com for more information. Produced by Human Content Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →A Survival Guide for Journalists and Protesters with Adam Rose
Jun 201:09:28Tap to summarizeI’m stepping away from the slit lamp this week to talk about a different kind of eye emergency. The ones happening on the front lines of protests across the country. I’ve been seeing way too many videos of people losing their vision to "non-lethal" force, so I invited Adam Rose, the Deputy Director of Advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, to help us navigate this. Adam has 20 years of journalism under his belt and spends his time making sure the people documenting history don't end up as patients in my clinic. Whether you’re a journalist, a protester, or just a citizen with a smartphone, this episode is a crash course in exercising your First Amendment rights without losing an eyeball. Takeaways: Why a build-up of food gases in an old Thermos can pop a lid with enough force to cause a "ruptured globe" injury. The difference between a "Democratic physician-owned group" and a "Contract Management Group" staffing your local hospital. How a doctor living in Illinois can technically "own" an emergency practice in Oregon through a legal loophole. Why Will thinks "home call" in residency is just a clever way to skirt work-hour restrictions. The "Glock Flecking Fodder Ability Scale" for determining which medical specialties are the easiest to make fun of. — To Get Tickets to Wife & Death: You can visit Glaucomflecken.com/live We want to hear YOUR stories (and medical puns)! Shoot us an email and say hi! knockknockhi@human-content.com Can’t get enough of us? Shucks. You can support the show on Patreon for early episode access, exclusive bonus shows, livestream hangouts, and much more! – http://www.patreon.com/glaucomflecken Also, be sure to check out the newsletter: https://glaucomflecken.com/glauc-to-me/ If you are interested in buying a book from one of our guests, check them all out here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/dr.glaucomflecken If you want more information on models I use: Anatomy Warehouse provides for the best, crafting custom anatomical products, medical simulation kits and presentation models that create a lasting educational impact. For more information go to Anatomy Warehouse DOT com. Link: https://anatomywarehouse.com?aff=14 Plus for 15% off use code: Glaucomflecken15 -- A friendly reminder from the G’s and Tarsus: If you want to learn more about Demodex Blepharitis, making an appointment with your eye doctor for an eyelid exam can help you know for sure. Visit http://www.EyelidCheck.com for more information. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code KNOCKKNOCK for up to 30% off — but only for a limited time. This exclusive offer runs from May 18th through June 1st only, so don't wait. Produced by Human Content Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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