I've realized that even in my office of six or so specialists, they all have their own procedures for injections. I went to one doctor for a year or two, and then was switched me to current doc. I, along with most of her patients, am totally besotted with her. I just wanted to share some details about why.
Dr. D. waits to swab my eyelid with betadine, as before when the technicians did it, sometimes my eye would get too dry before I saw her, and the injection would hurt. Just mentioning that as it's nice to have someone pay attention to details, and want me to be as comfortable as possible.
I can't remember if she does this before or after the speculum is inserted, but my doctor goes behind me, tells me to look down at the floor, left or right, and then gives me a tiny shot of lidocaine. After that while she's waiting for it to take effect, she'll dictate information about my scans, or tell me an anecdote about her kids. (Ha.)
Again, when she's ready to do the injection, Dr. D. will go behind me, instruct me to look down at the floor in a specific direction, and even reach around and wiggle her fingers to direct my eye position if needed. I love that I get a shot from behind, and never even see the needle. Plus, in all the years (probably eight or so), that I've been going to her, I've never had a broken blood vessel, which used to be fairly common for me.
She's also the doctor that started the step that they all do now, which is rinsing the eye afterwards. Initially she did that herself, but now the technician handles that. Having my eyeball rinsed with cool water is so soothing, and I'm sure helps alleviate the betadine irritation.
Not part of her procedure, but one I've just found helpful for me through the years is having a gauze eye patch put on my eye, and also getting a steroid shot. The eye patch stops my tears from running, and helps my eye settle down. I remove it within an hour or two.
Is there something that your doctor does that you find helpful physically or in relieving some of the stress?