Knock Knock Eye: My Official Medical Comedy Ladder
I saw a video from a dermatology resident asking people to stop making fun of dermatologists… and it got me thinking. Why do certain specialties get roasted more than others? So in this episode, I present something I’ve been mentally building for years: the medical comedy ladder. A hierarchy that explains who can make fun of who in medicine without accidentally starting a professional civil war. Using three highly scientific criteria—ego, respect, and compensation, I rank specialties from the bottom of the comedy ladder to the very top. Along the way we talk about why primary care is the universal donor of medical jokes, why cardiologists have surgeon energy, and why dermatology might just be the safest target in medicine. And yes… neurosurgeons are exactly where you think they are. Takeaways: The three surprisingly simple factors that determine where a specialty lands on the medical comedy ladder. Why some specialties can joke about anyone above them, but not the other way around. How compensation, public respect, and ego quietly shape the way doctors joke about each other. Why dermatology ended up near the top of the ladder and why that actually proves the point. The one specialty that sits firmly at the very top of the hierarchy (and probably won’t argue about it). 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. Go to Cozy Earth now for a Buy One Get One Free Pajama Offer from 1/25-2/8! Yes, go to cozyearth.com they are doing a BOGO pajama promo. Just use my Code: KNOCKKNOCKBOGO Produced by Human Content Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Glauc Talk: Why You Shouldn't Wear Contacts to a Protest?
After my recent pepper spray video unexpectedly hit 5–6 million views, we break down what actually happens to your eyes when exposed to pepper spray, what to do immediately, whether baby shampoo is your new best friend, and why milk absolutely does not belong anywhere near your corneas. We also talk contact lenses (don’t wear them into situations where pepper spray is possible), corneal abrasions, how permanent scarring can happen, and why irrigation is the universal ophthalmology answer to almost everything. Then we pivot into Southwest Airlines abandoning open seating and why apparently no one knows how to behave on planes anymore. Assigned seats, overhead bin warfare, and whether sitting in the back of the plane is actually safer. And finally, we workshop a potentially revolutionary idea: what if after-visit summaries had jokes in them? Could AI make medical paperwork funny enough to actually read? Or are we just asking for dad-joke malpractice? Takeaways: Irrigation Is Everything: When it comes to pepper spray exposure, rinse early, rinse often, and please stop rubbing your eyes. Milk Is Not an Eye Treatment: Even if it helps spicy food, it does not belong in your corneas. Contacts Make Things Worse: Remove them after irrigation, not during peak panic. Public Behavior Is Changing: Whether it’s protests or plane boarding, social norms feel… fragile. Boring Medicine Might Need Humor: If patients don’t read after-visit summaries, maybe the problem isn’t the summary, maybe it’s the delivery. — 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. Go to Cozy Earth now for a Buy One Get One Free Pajama Offer from 1/25-2/8! Yes, go to cozyearth.com they are doing a BOGO pajama promo. Just use my Code: KNOCKKNOCKBOGO Produced by Human Content Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Knock Knock Eye: What Did The Pitt Get Wrong About Conjunctivitis?
After reading your very disturbed (and very funny) comments, I briefly explore whether a large “package” might negatively affect figure skating rotational velocity. Then we pivot to the eyeballs. The Pitt keeps delivering ophthalmology cases, so I break down gonorrhea conjunctivitis (yes, that’s a thing), what really happens when someone super-glues their eye shut, and why trimming eyelashes is sometimes the most heroic act in medicine. Finally, we get into something far more serious: a routine clinic visit that revealed a pressure of 55 and one of the most devastating diagnoses in glaucoma, neovascular glaucoma. It’s a masterclass in ischemia, abnormal blood vessels, and when the goal of care shifts from saving vision to preserving comfort. Takeaways: Why gonorrhea causes “hyperacute” conjunctivitis and how it looks dramatically different from viral pink eye. The reassuring truth about super glue in the eye (it’s the eyelashes, not the eyeball). Why adenovirus still scares ophthalmologists more than most bacteria. How a central retinal vein occlusion can quietly set the stage for neovascular glaucoma years later. When a pressure of 55 isn’t a surgical emergency and why sometimes the right answer is comfort, not intervention. 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
What Is a GI Psychiatrist? with Dr. Claire Brandon
This week we sit down with Dr. Claire Brandon, one of only a handful of GI psychiatrists in the country, to talk about something most of us learned in med school and then promptly never thought about again: the gut-brain axis. Why does stress wreck your stomach?Why do chronic GI conditions come with anxiety and depression attached?Why does “it’s all in your head” miss the point entirely? We talk about serotonin living in your intestines, inflammation affecting mood, why doctors struggle with gray areas, and how radical acceptance might actually be more powerful than another test. We also get into what happens when medicine can’t “see” the problem and why that makes everyone uncomfortable. Then, in true Knock Knock Hi fashion, we pivot from neuroscience to fecal transplants… and somehow land on a heated (but respectful) discussion about whether people should have kids. Takeaways: Your Brain and Gut Were Connected From Day One: Literally from embryology. This isn’t a trendy concept. It’s foundational biology we’re finally paying attention to. Inflammation Doesn’t Stop at the Intestines: Autoimmune conditions, chronic GI disease, and mood disorders are more intertwined than most patients (and doctors) realize. Invisible Symptoms Create Real Anxiety: When medicine can’t “see” the pathology, everyone feels unsettled, including physicians. More Testing Isn’t Always the Answer: Sometimes decreasing hyper-focus on symptoms can actually reduce suffering. The Gut Microbiome Is Just Getting Started: From depression to Parkinson’s research, we’re only beginning to understand how bacteria influence the brain. — 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
Knock Knock Eye: Is Corporate Medicine Breaking Emergency Care?
This episode starts with something that makes me very angry and ends with something that makes me genuinely happy. First, we talk about what’s happening in Eugene, Oregon, where a nonprofit hospital system decided not to renew a 35-year contract with its locally rooted emergency physicians and instead hand the ER over to a large corporate staffing group based thousands of miles away. Wait times went up, morale collapsed, doctors spoke up and admin responded by replacing them. If you’ve ever wondered how corporate medicine quietly dismantles community care, this is a textbook example. Then, to save my sanity (and yours), we pivot to something fun: medical magic. The things ophthalmologists do every day that would absolutely get us burned at the stake a few hundred years ago: instant pain relief, artificial lenses, and the quiet miracle of glasses. Takeaways: How a nonprofit hospital replaced its local ER doctors with a corporate staffing group and why it’s happening all over the country. Why closing one emergency department predictably overwhelmed another and how admin blamed the wrong people. The hidden cost of replacing community physicians with rotating, nonlocal staff. The ophthalmology treatment that turns 10/10 pain into 0/10 pain in seconds and still feels like magic. Why cataract surgery and artificial lenses might be one of the greatest medical miracles of all time 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. Go to Cozy Earth now for a Buy One Get One Free Pajama Offer from 1/25-2/8! Yes, go to cozyearth.com they are doing a BOGO pajama promo. Just use my Code: KNOCKKNOCKBOGO Produced by Human Content Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices