Slide Review: Water in the slide

At the end of staining, tissue sections must be fully dehydrated by alcohol before applying Cytoseal. If you rush the process and leave water mixed with the alcohol and glue, the tissue will have strange dark flecks in it. Notice how the tissue in the far lower right corner of this picture is not contaminated as much. The cytoseal was probably dropped directly on that area of tissue.

You will also notice what looks like streams of bubbles. Since cytoseal is toluene-based and toluene is insoluble in water, any water left on the slide will create this cloudy mess of bubbles.

Solution: Recoverslip. Slide off the coverslip. Give the slide a few good swishes in the alcohol, a few drops of glue, and a brand new coverslip. 

Moisture will damage the cryo paint

This cryo/truck was parked next to the sprinklers and the water must have soaked into the blanket overnight. At the job the next morning, the cryo looked like this. I'm not sure how it's any different from driving through heavy rain on the way to or from a job but for whatever reason, those sprinklers really did a number on the paint job.

I imagine car washes will do the same thing eventually, so if it's not too much of a hassle:

-Leave the cryo at home when you get your truck washed.
-If there's nowhere to put it at home, you can drop the cryo off at the office and pick it up afterwards.
-You could also just leave the cryo on the truck and wash the truck at home, being careful not to get cryo wet.

Slide Review: Monsel's Solution

Monsel's solution, also known as ferric subsulfate solution, is a styptic agent used to stop bleeding after superficial skin biopsies.  It works by contracting tissue to seal injured blood vessels. Here, we see residual Monsel from a biopsy done several days before Mohs surgery.