Glossary

– an inflammation and swelling of the eyelids.

– an area with no retina where the optic nerve enters the eye; hence there is no vision.

– automatic and rapid closure of the lids.

’ – part of the cornea.

– writing for the blind and partly sighted which is a series of bumps read by the fingers.

’ – separates the retinal pigment epithelium from the choroid.

– an elastic layer around the lens.

– the lump at the side of the nose where the two eyelids meet.

– a condition whereby the clear lens of the eye becomes cloudy.

– the tendency to block out edge vision and allow central vision to dominate.

– vision concentrated on the macula and dominated by the high resolution and colour vision associated with cones.

– the part of the brain concerned with vision and other activities.

– the place where the two optic nerves meet and cross on their way to the visual cortex.

– the organism responsible for trachoma.

– a bed of vessels that help supply blood to the retina; the choroid is part of the uvea.

– inflammation of the choroidal vessels.

– a structure in the cell which carries genetic material.

– the tissue which houses the muscle that changes the shape of the lens in accommodation.

– the muscle that changes the shape of the lens in accommodation.

– lie beneath the ciliary body and produce the aqueous humour.

– a rhythm functioning on a 24-hour biological clock.

– in this form of glaucoma, the high eye pressure is caused by the iris blocking the outflow system and thus halting the drainage of aqueous humour.

– collectively the cornea, sclera, choroid and retina.

– a structural material of the body (gristle).

– medical potions.

– the perception of fewer colours than normal.

– a deficiency in colour vision that is not as severe as colour blindness.

– the eye of insects and some other animals, which is made up of a myriad of small eyes.

– a bevelled lens that bends rays of light outwards.

– photoreceptors from the retina involved in colour vision.

– glaucoma in infants and children.

– the thin, transparent membrane on the surface of the eyeball and the inside surface of the lid.

– an inflammation and redness of the conjunctival membrane; its thin blood vessels become swollen and cause a red eye.

– an artificial lens which fits on to the cornea of the eye and usually is made of either hard or soft plastic.

– in which the squinting eye turns inwards when the ‘good’ eye is looking straight ahead.

– a bowed-out lens that bends rays of light inwards.

– the clear coat at the front of the eye.

– a cataract associated with clouding away from the centre of the lens.

– opaque spots of dead nerve tissue in the retina.

– an old cataract operation (see needling).

– inflammation of the tissues of the ciliary body.

– corneal ulcers produced by a viral infection.

– close co-operation between both eyes to give an estimate of distance.

’ – a part of the cornea.

– colour vision defect in which green is the problem colour.

– a disease caused by insulin deficiency and, as a consequence, too high a sugar level in the blood.

– a general term for a range of eye problems which can arise in the diabetic.

– a muscle in the iris.

– a measurement of bending of light rays.

– see double vision.

– a disease process, associated with some (wet) forms of age-related macular degeneration, which involves some of the choroidal blood vessels close to the macula.

– the ability to tell objects apart.

outside, like a football; the pressure is caused by the fluid called aqueous humour.

– an eye from Egyptian mythology associated with the god Ra.

– an eye operation in which a little segment of iris is removed.

– an alternative medicine practitioner who considers that illness in the body can be diagnosed from patterns in the iris.

– a structure which gives the eye its colour and controls the amount of light entering.

– each of a person’s eyes are of a di erent colour.

– an inflammation of the iris.

– a common colour vision test based on coloured dots.

– an inflammation of the cornea.

– a black mixture used in ancient Egypt and even now in the Middle East as an eye protection and cosmetic.

– a gland in the orbit which produces tears.

– a visual acuity test.

– a colour vision test based on coloured lights.

– instruments that produce a coherent beam of light of one wavelength. Lasers, which are made to produce light of di erent colours and power, are vital to the eye doctor for diagnosis and treatment.

– a corneal operation to correct vision.

– the two eyes only intermittently work together.

– an eye that has lost some or all of its visual function and cannot keep in step with the good eye.

– a clear, crystalline structure behind the iris which focuses light on the retina.

– a layer around the lens.

– the lens beneath the capsule.

– the centre of the lens.

– the region where the clear cornea merges into the white sclera.

– allows individuals to see well in the distance but only poorly close to.

– literally ‘a spot’, but this spot, containing the fovea, is where the highest concentration of cones is to be found and where most of the light is focused on the retina.

– a disease process involving the macula which can happen in diabetic eye disease.

– the two eyes never work together.

’ – a rare disorder which is associated with heart and eye

problems. The su erers are unusually tall and thin with extremely long fingers and toes.

– cells containing pigment.

– a pigmented cancer of the skin. A form of melanoma can also develop in the eye.

– night and day vision working together.

– the philosophy of being or existing.

– the immature filarial worms (larvae) which can infect the eye and cause river blindness.

– vision from a single eye.

– a slimy substance.

– a special type of retinal cell which helps hold the retina together.

– see short sight.

– large freckles sometimes seen on the iris.

– part of the process of pushing a cataractous lens out of the way, see couching.

– a severe secondary glaucoma which arises in some with diabetic eye disease.

– a term for treatments that protect the brain and/or retinal tissue from harm and by so doing promote tissue survival.

– poor night vision, which can be due to a deficiency of vitamin A, which is needed for the action of retinal rods.

– glaucoma which takes place without an elevated eye pressure.

– a cataract that starts at the centre of the lens and then progresses outwards.

– people with high eye pressure who do not have the visual loss that occurs in glaucoma.

– cancer of the eye.

– anyone who specializes in the treatment of eyes.

– a tropical eye disease which is caused by a worm; it often leads to the eye problem known as river blindness.

– an old term that was used to cover all sorts of inflammations of the eye.

– an eye doctor.

– an instrument for looking into the eye.

– the passage for the optic nerve between the eye and brain.

– the nerve which links the eye and brain.

– where the optic nerve enters the inside of the eye; the blind spot.

– an eye professional who gives eye tests and sells glasses or contact lenses.

– an optician who also screens for eye disease.

– an American DC-10 plane which is equipped as an eye surgery teaching unit and travels the world.

– the housing for the eye.

– a health professional concerned principally with the investigation, diagnosis and treatment of disorders of eye movement.

– the part of the rods and cones involved in vision.

– the tissue which drains the fluid aqueous humour out of the eye and becomes blocked in glaucoma.

– a method used by Bates therapists for exercising eyes.

– a squint caused by damage to the extraocular muscles of the eye.

’ – introduced in 1992, outlining patients’ rights in the UK.

– outer extent of the field of vision.

– daylight vision.

– the rods and cones of the retina.

(PRK) – a type of refractive surgery in which a furrow is cut in the cornea with a laser.

– a small structure associated with the brain. In humans it produces melatonin, a hormone that helps to regulate the biological clock.

– the long-sightedness which comes with age, and results in a need for reading glasses.

– the most common form of glaucoma in Britain, which is associated with a slow increase in eye pressure; also called chronic simple glaucoma.

– a severe problem that can occur in diabetic eye disease which is associated with the growth of blood vessels and vascular scars on the surface of the retina.

– colour vision defect in which red is the problem colour.

– scar tissue induced by light, which grows across the cornea and can cause visual impairment if left untreated.

– the hole in the iris which lets light into the inside of the eye.

(RK) – a type of refractive surgery in which scalpel cuts are made in the cornea.

– treatment involving the use of radioactive materials.

– a machine used to look into the eye.

– a type of muscle, not linked to bone, which produces slow and gradual contractions.

– an eye test to check distance vision in a visual acuity test.

– a clear cover over the eye found in lizards and snakes.

– lenses for both eyes linked over the bridge of the nose.

– a muscle in the iris.

– the eyes do not work together.

– two images fused into one.

– the technical name for squint.

– a major type of muscle which has a striped appearance and produces rapid contractions.

– a piece of connective tissue.

– a potentially dangerous technique in Bates therapy which involves looking at the sun with the eyes closed.

– after serious injury to one eye, an inflammation can arise in the other eye due to an attack on eye tissues by the body’s immune system.

– a sexually transmitted disease which, if improperly treated, can in its later stages produce neurological problems and blindness.

– fluid from the lacrimal gland which washes the eye.

– fluid on the corneal surface.

– a small number of animals have a third eye extending from the top of their head which tells night from day, but in many others a remnant remains called the pineal gland.

– the Hindu god Shiva is believed to have a third eye which has the power to reduce the world to ashes.

– an instrument used for measuring the pressure in the eye.

– a worm carried by dogs, which, if taken in by people, on rare occasions can produce eye problems and even blindness.

– part of the outflow system by which aqueous humour leaves the eye.

– an infective scarring disease of the front of the eye associated with the organism Chlamydia.

– a nurse from the accident and emergency unit who works out the priority in which patients need to be seen by the doctor.

– a theory that explains how colour vision works based on there being three types of cone.

– colour vision defect in which blue is the problem colour.