A young man, I had never met before, in the company of a well-known Nursing Sister, walked into my consulting room with poise and confidence and greeted me familiarly as if he had known me for ages. I responded less enthusiastically to his greetings. “You may sit in the reception while I speak with Sister Laurens,” I told him.
“Who is that young man?” I asked once he was out of earshot. “He is Joseph, a horticulturist who is helping to restore our garden,” she replied. “He is a swindler,” I said confidently and warned her to be careful in her dealings with him.” I hope you haven’t given him any money yet?” She said she had made an advance payment of half the agreed sum. “Who introduced him to you?” I probed further.
She replied that Engineer Yemi whom I had introduced to help with their borehole had recommended him. “You won’t see him after today and you may have to collect your money from Yemi,” I said with certainty. I saw Sister Laurens again about six months after, she had not set her eyes on Joseph since the encounter in my office.
People usually send out signals with their body language and noticing these signals is a very useful social skill. It comes naturally to some people but many are notoriously oblivious to them. With a little extra alertness and enough practice, learning to read body language, can become a second nature. And it can save one from embarrassing and even dangerous situations. Similarly, your eyes can tell a story. A look at the eyes can be quite revealing.
Recently a young lady, about 35 years of age, came to see me because she was feeling some discomfort in her eyes. She couldn’t really explain herself. As she spoke, I noticed she had a stare. When someone is looking straight ahead, the upper lids cover the upper third of the black of the eye (cornea). When you can see the entire cornea without the person actually making an effort by staring we call it lid retraction and this could be a hint that something is wrong.
Instinctively, l looked at her neck and I could see some fullness. After a few searching questions which shed further light on the nature of her problem, I took her arms and felt her pulse. It was about 140 beats per minute. Normal pulse rate is about 72 beats per minute. The story suggested a thyroid disease and further tests confirmed this.
Lawrence, a 45-year-old man had been having severe headache for two months. He decided to visit the hospital when he could no longer bear the pains. As he described his headache, I noticed that his left upper eyelid was drooping. We call this ptosis. I also noticed that the eye was looking down and out.
“Do you see double?,” I asked. “Yes, I do but when I shut one eye the double vision disappears,” he answered. “You have a paralysis of your third nerve,” I told him. I went on to describe the possible causes. The most likely one in this case is an abnormal vascular dilatation inside his brain. We call this aneurysm. I sent him to the neuro-surgeon for further evaluation and treatment.
By far the greatest story told was that of a 50-year-old woman. She was really confused as to the nature of her problem. She had been feeling unwell for quite a while. The most prominent symptoms I could discern from her babble were headaches and dizziness. She was slightly pale. Her skin was smooth and radiant suggesting she had added some weight recently.
My eyes dropped to her tummy and the story was complete. “Maam, you are pregnant!” I said authoritatively. “I am 50 and my last menstrual period was over a year ago,” she protested vehemently. Further examination confirmed she was three months pregnant.
Can any of the stories be wrong? Certainly, yes! Once in a while we may get a wrong impression from the body language or the story as told by the eyes. The likelihood of getting it right increases with practice. Isn’t that what we call experience?
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