Squishing eye with a cotton bud?!

[UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername]

I was having a partially detached retina examined yesterday and the doctor anesthetized the eyeball and then shoved a cotton bud into the socket to squish the eye to one side to try and get a better view down at the bottom of the retina. Is this common? I have to say, having experienced it, I'd never consent to it again. It was horrible.

It's called scleral indentation and is necessary because the most peripheral edges of the retina are not visible otherwise

Thanks, that led to some interesting googling.

It's still bloody horrible though! Thankfully the problem was visible with wide angle imaging so hopefully they won't need to root around next time.

Wait . . . what?

Arrrrrggggghhhh! New fear unlocked