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Oh! My eye hurts! (slightly OT)

gothra

gothra

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After I have obtained a microscope for a few months, I finally did proper fecal floats for my leos last night. I did 3 in a row, and my right eye almost blinded!! My right eye is still feeling weird this morning...If I am to buy a microscope again, I would've choose a binocular one, and one that can take pictures too.

By the way, how long do you let the cover slip sit on the fecalyser before you move it to the slide? I waited for 12 minutes last night, but I recall reading somewhere that sodium nitrate may destroy parasitic eggs after 15-20 mins or so?
 
I normally wait 20 minutes, then move the slide over for observation.
I would also suggest not holding your eye right against the scope so hard...ouch!
 
A little tip

keep both eyes open and use a hand to cover the eye you aren't using. Eye strain headaches SUCK!
 
I let it sit for 15 minutes. I've done a few tests with 10 minutes and 15 minutes for the same samples and noticed that the slides from 15 minutes had more results than the 10 minute slides.

When the Fecasol starts to evaporate so that it no longer brims over the Fecalyzer, it crystallizes on the slide. It's the drying that can kill the eggs. This usually happens over 30-45 minutes, but I've had it happen in less time than that. I found this out by forgetting to check my flotations on a few occassions.

By the way, what magnification do you spend the most time using? I use 100x to scan the slides and then flip to 400x when I come across anything unusual. I try not to spend too much time scanning with 400x because that kills my eyes too.
 
I used 100x most of the time, hardly used the 400x; I didn't find anything last night (good news), if there are parasitic eggs, do they show up exactly like how they look in books? or are they much more difficult to identify?
 
Sometimes they show up like they do in the books, and sometimes they're a bit mangled depending on how old/dry the stool sample is. It helps to look at as many pictures as possible to see the slight variations between the same eggs.
 
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