One of the things I love most about my job is the people you get to meet. A complaint I hear quite often from other screeners is that the job can get repetitive, and whilst it's true that you're essentially doing the same things over and over again, what keeps it fresh for me is the fact that every patient is different. And at least once a day you can guarantee that you'll meet one like no other.

My favourite from this week was a 70-year-old chap who walked in carrying a briefcase, and immediately told me that he used to be an optician. This news put me on the back foot slightly, as I assumed his ocular knowledge would be far in advance of mine, and I'd have to end up admitting that compared to him, I know nothing. It was a similar story when I screened a retired GP a couple of months ago. I felt very self-conscious giving diabetes advice to a qualified doctor.

Fortunately I needn't have worried. To be honest, my suspicions should have been aroused by the man's demeanour alone. He was a lovely chap, but he spent the whole time grinning like a Cheshire cat, and had the manic, wild-eyed look of... well, not of a retired optician, that's for sure. But I took him at his word, especially when he started talking about Atropine, and asking if we ever use it.

Things took a turn for the weird during the VA. He told me his vision was a little worse in his left eye, and he assumed he'd probably got "a bit of a bleed" in that one. I didn't quite know what to say to that. But I decided to reserve my judgement on his ophthalmic credentials until I took the photos.

When he came back in, he said that as an optician, he'd be very interested to see the images for himself. To be honest, I show them to most patients anyway, but I was happy to oblige for a fellow healthcare professional. The conversation went something like this:

Patient: What's that dark thing there?
Me: That's the macula.
Patient: Oh. And that thing?
Me: That's the optic disc.
Patient: Really?
Me: Yes.

Call me an old cynic, but I'm not sure he'd quite passed all the elements of the ABDO qualification.