First do no harm

It is common when practising ophthalmology that we forget to treat the patient as a whole person. We are taught in medical school to take a complete history and to perform a thorough examination before ordering specific investigations. However sometimes, despite our clinical experience, we are tempted to take inappropriate shortcuts. The notion 'first do no harm' highlights to us the importance of gathering all the facts first before performing procedures on the patient. A clinical experience encountered recently reminded us of the importance of a patient's past medical history. (author abstract)