As it turns out, I wrote yesterday’s BrianBrief at the ophthalmologist’s office for my regular checkup.

Long story short, my eyes are stable glaucoma-wise. My only complaint was cloudiness in my left eye’s visual field.

It turns out to be a common byproduct of cataracts years after the surgery. My usual ophthalmologist (Dr. K) was off-site, so one of his interns, an Israeli doctor (Dr. Z), examined me.

He performed a thorough examination and determined that I had a posterior capsular opacification. The question was whether to treat it with a simple laser procedure or surgery.

Here’s a link to explain what I’m talking about:

Posterior Capsular Opacification.

Anyway, Dr Z said to “I’m not sure whether laser treatment would work in your case. It’s possible you need surgery. Either way, we will clean things up and get rid of the cloudiness in your vision. I’m going to take a picture of the inside of your left eye and text it to Dr. K. We’ll see what he says.”

At this point, I said to myself, “Dr. K will opt for the laser procedure first.”

20 minutes later, Dr. Z returned to the examination room and told me he and Dr. K had discussed my case. “We decided to go the laser route first.” I think it’s likely that Dr. K decided on that course of action himself.

Sidenote: Dr. K is a world-renowned ophthalmologist who attracts doctors and interns from around the world to study under him. I’ve met residents and doctors from South America, South Asia, and the Middle East. I have a sneaking suspicion that many of them were at the top of their classes or close to it and want to learn from the best in the field.

Anyway, how did I know that Dr. K would choose the laser option?

Early in my time as his patient, he described his medical philosophy: “My approach is to get the most benefit with the least amount of work.”

I wanted to interject and ask him if he practiced martial arts. His quote was remarkably similar to “Maximum damage with as little effort as possible.”

Anyway, my knowledge of his philosophy made me certain that he would choose the laser option first and reserve surgery as a last option.

As I get older, I’ve become more focused on efficiency and training, doing the most damage with the least amount of work. Why throw multiple punches when you can poke them in the eye or execute a throat strike? You get the idea.

Have you encountered anyone with a similar philosophy outside of martial arts? Drop a comment!

Have a great weekend!