Scientist Without A Laboratory

My first story begins with that strange name in the above title. It is not an experiment in the sense that that term implies. Rather it is actually an investigation that required only observation on my part. My office was the laboratory. My investigation was carried out day after day after day over a period of many months.

The title “pinguecula”, pronounced pin-queck-you-la, is the name of a small yellowish growth present on some peoples eyes. I emphasize that It is “on” the eye because it is an elevation on the sclera of the eye, the white part of the eye. It is a common eye blemish that I have never seen recorded on any physical examination, whether it be just an eye examination or a general physical examination.

The fact that every graduate from medical school knows the term, and no one ever mentions it on any type of physical examination, should indicate how innocuous physicians consider it to be. Some ophthalmologist might take note of their presence, but for doctors doing complete physical examinations, mentioning pingueculas as present might be considered as equivalent to mentioning freckles on the skin. It just is not done. And that is how I always considered it, until there was an article about its origin in a journal of ophthalmology. Duke-Elder’s Textbook of Ophthalmology, Volume One, an accepted authority in ophthalmology, describes it as “being the combined expression of changes due to senility and exposure.” I would have accepted that type of origin as possible. But this author attributed it to “the movement of the upper eyelid”. I thought it was absurd, and I intended to prove it.

As I described it above, pingueculas are very small yellowish bumps on the white part of the eye, and they are always at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions close to the cornea (the clear part of the eye), but separated from it. They are usually triangular in shape with the base of the triangle closest to the cornea and the point of the triangle pointing toward each ear or toward the outer corners of the eye. They are more common on the outer part of the sclera than on the inner area, but they can occur in both areas.

I recorded the presence or absence of pingueculas on my next 1000 patients. I also recorded their sex and age and whether one or both eyes were involved. On analyzing my findings, I found that they were present equally in males and females. Those under 18 years of age had no pingueculas. From above that age up to 70 years of age they were pretty much equally distributed. But the people over 70 in my list had no pingueculas. The very young and in the very old, in my study, were free of pingueculas.