Hyperpigmented Skin Patches

Hyperpigmented Skin Patches

A 70-year-old man presents to an urgent care center after becoming concerned about brown hyperpigmented patches on his legs and arms. He says that he thinks some of his teeth are turning gray, but it has been happening so slowly that he is not sure. He reports that he has been in good health recently, especially after starting to take antibiotics last year to treat his rheumatoid arthritis. View the image taken (Figure 1) and …

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Thoracic Pain After a Fall

Thoracic Pain After a Fall

A 51-year-old man presents to an urgent care center with sharp left thoracic pain that began suddenly after he fell after tripping on a banana peel that had been left on his kitchen floor. He has pain with breathing as well as with range of motion of the chest wall. He reports no head trauma, head or neck pain, fever, vomiting, or dizziness. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would …

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Blurred Vision and Painful Red Eye in a 40-Year-Old Patient

Blurred Vision and Painful Red Eye in a 40-Year-Old Patient

A 40-year-old man presents to an urgent care center with an acutely painful red eye in which he has blurred vision. He notices a bit of a headache and that there are some halos around lights, but he says that he has not experienced nausea or vomiting. When reviewing his medical history with you, he notes that he recently started taking a new antidepressant. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis …

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Flashes of Light, Floaters, and Blurred Vision

Flashes of Light, Floaters, and Blurred Vision

A 70-year-old man presents with blurred vision and a nasal-field defect in one of his eyes. He reports that before arriving in the emergency department, he saw flashes of light and floaters, accompanied by a shower of black dots blocking his vision. Figure 1 shows what the physician sees when examining the patient’s eye with indirect ophthalmoscopy and scleral depression. Consider what your diagnosis would be.

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