Chapter 2608: 2515 Bloodless Surgical Operation

"That's meaningless." Su Yun said, "People have 46 chromosomes, gorillas have 48, it's just that you can't give birth to 47 chromosomes…… Eh? Why are we talking about this?"

"It's not you." Zheng Ren fiddled with the patient's sole hair twice with sterile gloves, pondering how to solve this problem.

"It has nothing to do with reproductive isolation, nor with genetic alteration; I think the situation is like hair translocation." Zheng Ren picked up the hair growing on the sole with his hand, lightly placed it on his finger, "It is embedded in the outermost layer of the skin, and as walking continually goes deeper, it gradually stimulates the nerve endings of the thicker layer of skin on the foot."

"Zheng Lao Ban, please speak slower." Zhou Litao didn't hear clearly; if he didn't understand, he would ask, and he immediately spoke.

"How come I can't understand a word?" Su Yun seemed to have forgotten the patient's sweaty foot smell, leaned over to Zheng Ren's finger, earnestly looking at that extremely fine hair, and said: "Indeed, I remember that article, the Brazilian doctor's hair presentation."

"Yun Ge'er, what is it?" Zhou Litao asked.

"The Journal of Emergency Medicine Visual Magazine has similar case reports; I think Caucasians have softer hair, making hair translocation unlikely." Su Yun said, "Normally, in Asian populations with more and harder hair, it's more likely to occur."

"But this hair…… is a bit soft."

Su Yun leaned in a bit more, seriously looking at the hair twisted between Zheng Ren's fingers.

Zheng Ren was very worried that Su Yun would faint from the smell like Lin Yuan did; after looking for a while, his eyes were already filled with tears.

It's not deep love, just the sour stench is too strong.

"Zheng Lao Ban, just this?" Zhou Litao doubted, looking at the hair on the sole; it's really hard to link the patient's severe pain with it.

Zheng Ren then lightly touched the root of the hair with his other hand.

"Ah……" The patient immediately shouted in pain.

"Is it that painful?" Su Yun asked.

"It hurts…… not that much, but I'm used to it." The patient said somewhat fearfully: "Any slight pressure, a touch hurts; I…… I'm not faking."

"I know, the hair penetrates the stratum corneum, extends deep into the sole, and touches the nerve endings." Zheng Ren said softly: "Looking at his pain condition, consider that the hair's entry point might be even deeper."

"With tweezers, I'll do it." Su Yun said.

"No." Zheng Ren said, "Take it out under the microscope."

"Isn't this making a mountain out of a molehill?" Su Yun asked puzzledly.

"I've also read that article in the Journal of Emergency Medicine Visual Magazine; since the patient is Caucasian, the hair is softer, so tweezers can pull it out. But I think we need to be careful with his case—if any part of the hair remains deep, extracting it would be very troublesome. Even if we cut it open, we couldn't find it."

Zheng Ren earnestly voiced his true thoughts.

The patient sat on the examination bed, dazed, still trying to process what was just said about human-gorilla reproductive isolation, unable to recover.

What nonsense is this? My heel hurts, and you've dragged it all the way out here.

"Alright, put on your shoes and follow me to the treatment room." Zheng Ren said.

"Doctor, what are we going to do?" The patient blinked, then asked softly.

"The hair fell off, you stepped on it with your foot, then it penetrated the stratum corneum and reached the nerve endings' position." Zheng Ren said, "We need to pull that hair out for your condition to improve."

The patient still didn't understand; he felt this young doctor was somewhat young, but had a strong aura that didn't allow him to question.

He put on his shoes, tiptoed, and limped along to the treatment room.

"Lin Yuan, go to the operating room and fetch my microscope." Zheng Ren said: "And also…… never mind, you contact Yi Ren, I still need…… or I'll just do it myself."

Zheng Ren probably thought giving a little explanation was too troublesome, so he said a couple more things to the patient, then turned and left.

Lin Yuan looked astonished as Zheng Ren left, went to find the surgical equipment, and whispered: "Yun Ge'er, what is Zheng Lao Ban going to do?"

"Making a mountain out of a molehill." Su Yun said, "Just pull it out with tweezers; he insists on cutting the stratum corneum under the microscope. Think, how thick is hair?"

"60-90 micrometers." Lin Yuan said without thinking.

"Exactly, less than 1/10 millimeter. Your Zheng Lao Ban is mighty, going to perform a bloodless surgical operation." Su Yun never speaks nicely; his mocking tone is thick and can't be dispelled.

"Yun Ge'er, bloodless?"

"Cut the stratum corneum; the sole's stratum corneum is a bit thicker, about 100 micrometers. Then reach the germinative layer, where the adhesion between bodily tissue and hair isn't severe, and then pull the hair out."

"……"

Lin Yuan glanced at the patient—just someone who came to the emergency department for a visit—no wonder Yun Ge'er said Zheng Lao Ban was making a mountain out of a molehill.

The patient silently sat on the treatment room bed waiting; soon he saw that young doctor just now carrying back a surgery box full of metallic feel.

When he put on the surgical microscope, opened the surgery box, and took out the small microsurgical instruments, the patient stared intently at the tech-laden Zheng Ren, having countless questions he wanted to ask.

Before he could ask, Zheng Ren said, "This is the black line in the skin; we need to differentiate it from parasitic migration."

"If it were an epidermal parasite, there wouldn't be fixed pain, and the itching would be intense. Having gained experience this time, if you encounter a similar situation next time, you'll know what to do."

Speaking, the patient saw Zheng Ren install a tiny blade onto the handle, as small as a children's toy. Yet the few streaks of cold light reflected from the blade made him feel somewhat apprehensive.

Although somewhat afraid, he gave himself psychological comfort in his mind.

"It's fine, it's fine, anesthesia will be needed anyway." He just didn't know how fine a needle would be needed to anesthetize using such a tiny surgical blade for incision.

"Wrong! Where's the needle for anesthesia? And also! No anesthetic either!"

The patient stared blankly, not yet understanding what had happened, when Zheng Ren had already slapped the blade aside and then picked up a pair of tweezers.

"Doctor, no anesthesia?" The patient asked anxiously.

"It's done, no anesthesia needed." Zheng Ren said lightly, then looked at the hair just removed under the light.

"This is……"

"It's because you walked barefoot at home and stepped on a hair. This hair drilled into your sole like a needle." Zheng Ren smiled, twisted the hair onto a piece of sterile gauze, then handed the gauze to the patient.