Knock Knock, Hi! with the Glaucomfleckens

Knock Knock, Hi! with the Glaucomfleckens

"Knock Knock, Hi! with the Glaucomfleckens" dives into the highs, lows, and WTFs of healthcare. Whether you're in the medical field, live with a healthcare worker, or broke your arm once and are still paying off your medical bills, this is a must-listen. Join Will and Kristin Flanary (aka the Glaucomfleckens) for candid chats with leading healthcare voices like Dr. Mike and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. Discover fun facts about eyeballs, hear relatable stories from medical training, and sneak a peek into the U.S. health insurance industry (spoiler alert: it's not great!). We'll share our own perspectives of being a patient or family member experiencing the healthcare system. And, of course, we explore the question on everyone's minds: "Why has Dr. Glaucomflecken never had his eyes dilated?" Combining science with humor and a dash of snark, we unpack the human side of healthcare.

Episodes

September 11, 2025 48 mins
Ever wondered what happens when your eye jelly decides to collapse in on itself? Or why some cataract surgeons apparently get squeamish around LASIK patients (spoiler: they shouldn’t)? This episode takes you from pediatrician pep rallies to the surprisingly dark side of floaters and flashes. Along the way, I’ll rant a little, nerd out a lot, and maybe terrify you just enough to finally schedule that eye exam. Takeaways: What ...
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This week, it’s just me and Kristin taking a BuzzFeed quiz to figure out what kind of doctor we are—and, well, the results raise some eyebrows. We also talk about a new bill being introduced in Massachusetts and answer a listener email about surgical etiquette: should you chat during procedures or keep it strictly scalpel business? Takeaways: Kristin and I take a BuzzFeed quiz that tells us what kind of doctor we are… and th...
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This week’s Knock Knock Eye is a little bit of everything: football, birthdays, med school reform, and one of the strangest kinds of patients I see in clinic. I talk about turning 40 (and yes, going full Chiefs fan at Arrowhead), why the fourth year of med school might be a “victory lap” worth keeping, and how Europe might actually be ahead of us when it comes to training doctors. Plus, I share what it was like speaking to med stud...
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When your job is literally life and death, how do you explain what that feels like to patients, to families, to anyone outside the ICU? This week on Knock Knock Hi, Kristin and I talk with Dr. Lakshman Swamy, a critical care and pulmonary doc who decided the answer might be… a board game. We get into burnout, the broken systems of ICU care, and how a game called helps players understand the impossible choices clinicians face every ...
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Look, I knew getting older would mess with my joints and metabolism—but no one warned me that my arms would become too short to read a menu. In this solo episode, I talk about the aging process that ruins your ability to focus on near objects—presbyopia—and why it’s just part of the over-40 starter pack. But that's not all. I’ve got thoughts about chiropractors adjusting newborns (yes, really), dry eye fixes that actually work, an...
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Sometimes the dumbest things go viral. Case in point: I guessed a basketball player’s glasses prescription online… and half the internet thought I was rating her looks. (Spoiler: I wasn’t.) In this episode of Knock Knock Hi, Kristin and I unpack my latest accidental brush with fame, the chaos of wellness misinformation clogging up TikTok, and why it feels like the internet is both the best and worst place for healthcare. We also di...
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RFK Jr. says doctors like me don’t want you to get better. Apparently, we’re part of a vast system designed to keep you sick. So I did what any responsible, monocle-wearing ophthalmologist would do, I pulled up his tweet and walked through it point by point. In this solo episode, I talk about how this kind of medical misinformation spreads, how it erodes trust in the entire healthcare system, and why calling out conspiracy thinkin...
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Ever had your surgery interrupted… by UnitedHealthcare? Yeah, me neither. But that’s exactly what happened to our guest this week, the incredible Dr. Elisabeth Potter. She went viral after exposing the absurdity of insurance meddling in patient care, right down to getting pulled out of the OR for a phone call about prior authorization. In this episode, Kristin and I dig into how Dr. Potter stood up to a massive insurance company, w...
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I love a good medical joke as much as the next ophthalmologist, but there’s one line I won’t cross and I think more of us need to hear it. In this episode, I’m talking about the state of medical comedy, why I almost stayed anonymous forever, and the one thing I’ve learned never to make fun of online. I also dive into YouTube comments, explain why onions make you cry (with the help of some very stylish goggles), answer questions abo...
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You know those mystery charges at the pharmacy that make zero sense? Yeah, turns out, there’s a whole shadowy system behind it and no, it’s not your pharmacist’s fault. This week on Knock Knock Hi, Kristin and I talk with Deborah Keaveny , president of Pharmacists United for Truth and Transparency (PUTT), about the tangled web of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), why your copays never go down, and how independent pharmacies are bas...
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I spent this week untangling one of the wildest New York Times stories in recent memory about organ donation. The article set off a firestorm online, and the clickbait headlines had everyone ready to rip “organ donor” off their driver’s license. But is it really that bad? I break down what’s true, what’s exaggerated, and what it means for a system that saves thousands of lives every year. Then I get fired up about neonatal conjunc...
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This week, Kristen and I go full sci-fi (but, like, the real kind) with the one and only Dr. Eric Topol—cardiologist, author, and guy who’s been yelling for years that the way we do medicine is… less than ideal. We talk about how AI could transform healthcare, whether doctors are finally ready to embrace empathy, and why the average hospital still runs on fax machines and vibes. Oh—and don’t worry, I made sure to ask him if AI is g...
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It’s just me this week, and I’m cracking open the homeopathy bottle (spoiler: it’s mostly water). From viral pseudoscience to dry eye remedies that make me blink twice, I’m taking a solo stroll through the wild world of medical misinformation. We’ll also talk about the dangers of diluted science, why TikTok is not a medical degree, and the real risks behind popular “natural” treatments. No guests, no filter—just a Snape impression ...
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This week, Kristin and I dig into the alphabet soup of hospital emergency codes, and I break down what those cryptic overhead announcements really mean. We also talk about the latest round of proposed Medicaid cuts and why they’re more than just numbers on a budget line. Expect the usual tangents too! Takeaways: Ever wonder what “Code Brown” actually means? We’ve got you. Medicaid is on the chopping block what could i...
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We’re marking 100 episodes by getting real about a moment that I've feared all my life. The moment where they asked if there was a doctor onboard this plane! Also: we talk about Dr. Elisabeth Potter, a breast cancer surgeon who stood up to UnitedHealthcare after they told her how to do her job—and then punished her for it. It’s infuriating. But it’s also revealing. Takeaways: There was a medical emergency onboard my latest...
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Intern year. It’s the chaotic rite of passage where sleep goes to die, mistakes get made in real time, and everyone’s faking confidence until they figure it out, or break. This week, I’m sharing the moments that defined mine: the terrifying first night on call, what it’s like to be handed a pager when you still don’t know where the bathrooms are, and how that year almost broke me… but also built me. Whether you're a med student bra...
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It’s a wild week in healthcare policy and student debt. The so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" just passed, and I have thoughts. Spoiler: most of them involve eye twitching. From massive Medicaid cuts to a hard cap on federal loans for grad students, I’m unpacking what this means for future doctors, patients, and anyone who likes affordable healthcare (so… everyone?). I also take you through a retinal rollercoaster from my clinic and, ...
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Ever wonder what happens when people with zero medical training start buying up hospitals and clinics? This week, we're joined by journalist Megan Greenwell, who’s spent years investigating the chilling spread of private equity in healthcare. We talk about what it means when medicine becomes a business, the moments that made her jaw drop during reporting, and why she thinks doctors and patients are both trapped in a system that no ...
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This week, I'm diving into the juiciest part of the eyeball—literally and historically. From ancient couching techniques that involved jabbing your eye with a sharp stick (yes, really) to modern lenses inspired by World War II cockpit glass, we’re going deep into cataract surgery's wild evolution. Also: a peek at what fireworks do to your eyeballs, my questionable thoughts on ASMR medicine, and why the human lens is the peanut M&M ...
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This week, we dig into the surprising shift among voters who once supported private equity in healthcare—and may now be rethinking it. Kristin and I talk through what’s behind that change, plus a major headline about the first-ever eye transplant. And just when things start to feel a little too serious, we lighten it up with a chaotic game that puts our anatomy knowledge (and humility) to the test. Trust me, you’ll want to play alo...
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