Looking at the world with One and a half eyes

Over the weekend, my left eye got swollen and like any man, I delayed seeing the doctor, until I could barely open it when I wake up to see the beautiful world on a monday morning. Ok, that was bullshit, I had to travel (almost) half way across the island to drop off my son at my mother-in-law's house and then zoom to my office at 100 km per hour to attend a (*%$#) 9 am meeting with an external consultant.

I made an appointment with my company clinic before I left my mother-in-law's house, thinking that I should be pretty early in the queue.

"15", the lady said.
"Bugger!", I cursed.
"Next time I will call at 6am," I said to myself.

After 4 phone calls and getting numerous replies such as "Doctor not in yet", "X more patients to go sir", I finally sat in front of my regular company doctor, and was told me I had 针眼, again. For the heartlanders, its the infamous Mak Cham. Literal translation is needle in the eyes.

"Too 'heaty'," the doctor said. (Thank god he didn't tease me, but guess that would be very unprofessional)

Now not many non-TCM doctor will say such things, but I choose to believe him (not that I had a choice). I was prescribed with an anti-bacterial eye drop (not the Eye-mo kind, only got saline inside, he said), some anti-biotics (not again!) and a piece of paper that most employees in Singapore would die for - MC (Medical Certificate, ;-)).

As usual, when I told my colleagues and friends I had Mak Cham, they all go like "Beo too many gals lah!" Beo is Hokkien for ogling at gals. Now, if that was really the cause, I think the hospital and clinics in Singapore would be thriving with business! As usual, I shrugged off every jest I received, with the belief that they meant "Take Care and rest your eyes" actually.

For the "uneducated and ignorants", Conjunctivities (yes, that's the medical term), aka Mak Cham occurs due to a few reasons:

• Irregular Lifestyle
• Late nights
• Unhygienic habits
• Peeking at gals showering
  

As a result, the eyes got infected with bacteria and these pimple-like Mak Cham starts to manifest, causing itchiness to eyes, red eye or swelling of the eyelids. It could grow from anywhere around the eyes to underneath the eyelids. (By the way, that last reason was totally untrue. But I decided to list it down just to humour folks who believe in such myth)

So advise to all, wash your hands regularly, sleep early, and guys, don't beo too many gals! ;-)