Contact Lenses Glossary of Medical Terms

Abrasion: An abrasion or "excoriation" is a wearing away of the upper layer of skin as a result of applied friction force. In dentistry an "abrasion" is the wearing away of the tooth substance.
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Antibiotic: A drug used to treat infections caused by bacteria and other microorganisms. Originally, an antibiotic was a substance produced by one microorganism that selectively inhibits the growth of another. Synthetic antibiotics, usually chemically related to natural antibiotics, have since been produced that accomplish comparable tasks.
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Bacteria: Single-celled microorganisms which can exist either as independent (free-living) organisms or as parasites (dependent upon another organism for life).
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Blindness: Loss of useful sight. Blindness can be temporary or permanent. Damage to any portion of the eye, the optic nerve, or the area of the brain responsible for vision can lead to blindness. There are numerous (actually, innumerable) causes of blindness. The current politically correct terms for blindness include visually handicapped and visually challenged.
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Blood: The familiar red fluid in the body that contains white and red blood cells , platelets , proteins , and other elements. The blood is transported throughout the body by the circulatory system . Blood functions in two directions: arterial and venous. Arterial blood is the means by which oxygen and nutrients are transported to tissues while venous blood is the means by which carbon dioxide and metabolic by-products are transported to the lungs and kidneys, respectively, for removal from the body.
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Blurred vision: Lack of sharpness of vision with, as a result, the inability to see fine detail. Blurred vision can occur when a person who wears corrective lens is without them. Blurred vision can also be an important clue to eye disease.
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Brain: That part of the central nervous system that is located within the cranium ( skull ). The brain functions as the primary receiver, organizer and distributor of information for the body. It has two (right and left) halves called "hemispheres."
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Bumps: The raised area of a bump or bruise results from blood leaking from these injured blood vessels into the tissues as well as from the body's response to the injury. A purplish, flat bruise that occurs when blood leaks out into the top layers of skin is referred to as an ecchymosis.
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Condition: The term "condition" has a number of biomedical meanings including the following:

1. An unhealthy state, such as in "this is a progressive condition."
2. A state of fitness, such as "getting into condition."
3. Something that is essential to the occurrence of something else; essentially a "precondition."
4. As a verb: to cause a change in something so that a response that was previously associated with a certain stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus; to condition a person, as in behavioral conditioning.

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Conjunctivitis: Inflammation of the conjunctiva, the membrane on the inner part of the eyelids and the membrane covering the white of the eye. The conjunctival membranes react to a wide range of bacteria , viruses , allergy-provoking agents, irritants and toxic agents. Viral and bacterial forms of conjunctivitis are common in childhood. Conjunctivitis is also called pinkeye and red eye.
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Cornea: The clear front window of the eye that transmits and focuses light into the eye.
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Corneal: Pertaining to the cornea , the clear front window of the eye that transmits and focuses light into the eye.
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Corneal abrasion: A scratch or scrape on the cornea , the clear front window of the eye that transmits and focuses light into the eye.
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Corneal transplant: The replacement of the clear window on the front of the eye ( cornea ) by a healthy cornea. The procedure is typically done under local anesthesia in an outpatient setting. Transplantation of the cornea may be indicated in cases of severe scarring of the cornea by injury or infection (as with corneal ulcers) and in genetic disorders such as keratoconus (inherited corneal thinning with visual distortion) and Fuch's dystrophy (inherited corneal clouding with visual loss). The very limited blood supply of the cornea greatly reduces the risk of transplant rejection. Corneal transplants generally function effectively for many years.
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Diagnosis: 1 The nature of a disease ; the identification of an illness. 2 A conclusion or decision reached by diagnosis. The diagnosis is rabies . 3 The identification of any problem. The diagnosis was a plugged IV.
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Discharge: 1.The flow of fluid from part of the body, such as from the nose or vagina.
2. The passing of an action potential, such as through a nerve or muscle fiber .
3. The release of a patient from a course of care. The doctor may then dictate a discharge summary.
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Emergency department: The department of a hospital responsible for the provision of medical and surgical care to patients arriving at the hospital in need of immediate care. Emergency department personnel may also respond to certain situations within the hospital such cardiac arrests.
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Essential: 1. Something that cannot be done without.
2. Required in the diet, because the body cannot make it. As in an essential amino acid or an essential fatty acid.
3. Idiopathic. As in essential hypertension. "Essential" is a hallowed term meaning "We don't know the cause."
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Event: A set of outcomes. Cardiovascular events might include a heart attack and gastrointestinal events a GI bleed. The use of the term "event" in medicine comes from probability theory.
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Eyelid: The lid or cover of the eye, a movable fold of skin and muscle that can be closed over the eyeball or opened at will. Each eye has an upper and a lower lid. An eyelid is also called a palpebra.
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FDA: The Food and Drug Administration, an agency within the U.S. Public Health Service, which is a part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Film: Slang shortening of X-ray film, an X-ray, a radiograph.
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Food and Drug Administration: The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Public Health Service, which is a part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Glaucoma : A common eye condition in which the fluid pressure inside the eyes rises because of slowed fluid drainage from the eye. If untreated, it may damage the optic nerve and other parts of the eye, causing the loss of vision or even blindness.
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Hospital: It may seem unnecessary to define a "hospital" since everyone knows the nature of a hospital. A hospital began as a charitable institution for the needy, aged, infirm, or young.
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Hygiene: The science of preventive medicine and the preservation of health. From the name of Hygeia, the daughter of Asklepios, the Greek god of medicine (whose staff with entwined snake is the symbol of medicine). Asklepios (known to the Romans as Aesculapius) had a number of children including not only Hygeia but also Panaceia, the patroness of clinical medicine. Hygeia also followed her father into medicine. As the patroness of health, Hygeia was charged with providing a healthy environment to prevent illness. In Greek, "hygieia" means health.
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Infection: The growth of a parasitic organism within the body. (A parasitic organism is one that lives on or in another organism and draws its nourishment therefrom.) A person with an infection has another organism (a "germ") growing within him, drawing its nourishment from the person.
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Irrigate: To wash out as, for example, a wound to clean it.
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Laboratory: A place for doing tests and research procedures and preparing chemicals, etc. Although "laboratory" looks very like the Latin "laboratorium" (a place to labor, a work place), the word "laboratory" came from the Latin "elaborare" (to work out, as a problem, and with great pains), as evidenced by the Old English spelling "elaboratory" designating "a place where learned effort was applied to the solution of scientific problems."
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Laser: A powerful beam of light that can produce intense heat when focused at close range. Lasers are used in medicine in microsurgery, cauterization, for diagnostic purposes, etc. For example, lasers are employed in microsurgery to cut tissue and remove tissue.
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Laser surgery: A type of surgery that uses the cutting power of a laser beam to make bloodless cuts in tissue or remove a surface lesion such as a skin tumor. There are a number of different types of lasers that differ in emitted light wavelengths and power ranges and in their ability to clot, cut, or vaporize tissue. Among the commonly used lasers are the pulsed-dye laser, the YAG laser , the CO2 (carbon dioxide) laser, the argon laser, the excimer laser , the KTP laser, and the diode laser.
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Lens: The transparent structure inside the eye that focuses light rays onto the retina (the nerve layer that lines the back of the eye, senses light and creates impulses that go through the optic nerve to the brain). The lens was named after the lentil bean because it resembled it in shape and size.
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Microscope: An optical instrument that augments the power of the eye to see small objects. The name microscope was coined by Johannes Faber (1574-1629) who in 1628 borrowed from the Greek to combined micro-, small with skopein, to view. Although the first microscopes were simple microscopes, most (if not all) optical microscopes today are compound microscopes.
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Mucous: Pertaining to mucus, a thick fluid produced by the lining of some tissues of the body.
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On call: In medicine, the person who is ready to respond, the one on duty. As in "Who is the doctor on call this weekend?" or "This is the on call schedule."
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Onset: In medicine, the first appearance of the signs or symptoms of an illness as, for example, the onset of rheumatoid arthritis . There is always an onset to a disease but never to the return to good health. The default setting is good health.
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Ophthalmologist: An eye doctor. A physician practicing ophthalmology. An ophthalmologist is an M.D.
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Ophthalmology: The art and science of eye medicine.
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Optician: A specialist in fitting eyeglasses and making lenses to correct vision problems. An optometrist performs eye examinations and writes prescriptions for corrective lenses; an optician fills that prescription.
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Optometrist: A health care professional who is licensed to provide primary eye care services:

• to examine and diagnose eye diseases such as glaucoma , cataracts , and retinal diseases and, in certain states in the U.S., to treat them;
• to diagnose related systemic (bodywide) conditions such as hypertension and diabetes that may affect the eyes;
• to examine, diagnose and treat visual conditions such as nearsightedness , farsightedness , astigmatism and presbyopia ; and
• to prescribe glasses, contact lenses, low vision rehabilitation and medications as well as perform minor surgical procedures such as the removal of foreign bodies.

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Osteopathy: A system of therapy founded in the 19th century based on the concept that the body can formulate its own remedies against diseases when the body is in a normal structural relationship, has a normal environment and enjoys good nutrition.
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Oxygen: A colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that makes up about 20% of the air we breathe (and at least half the weight of the entire solid crust of the earth) and which combines with most of the other elements to form oxides. Oxygen is essential to human, animal and plant life.
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Pain: An unpleasant sensation that can range from mild, localized discomfort to agony. Pain has both physical and emotional components. The physical part of pain results from nerve stimulation. Pain may be contained to a discrete area, as in an injury, or it can be more diffuse, as in disorders like fibromyalgia . Pain is mediated by specific nerve fibers that carry the pain impulses to the brain where their conscious appreciation may be modified by many factors.
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Pharmacy: A location where prescription drugs are sold. A pharmacy is, by law, constantly supervised by a licensed pharmacist.
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Pinkeye: Also called conjunctivitis . Redness or irritation of the conjunctivae, the membranes on the inner part of the eyelids and the membranes covering the whites of the eyes. These membranes react to a wide range of bacteria , viruses , allergy-provoking agents, irritants and toxic agents. Viral and bacterial forms of conjunctivitis are common in childhood.
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Predispose: To make more likely or render susceptible. Smoking predisposes to a number of diseases, including esophageal cancer .
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Prescription: A physician's order for the preparation and administration of a drug or device for a patient. A prescription has several parts. They include the superscription or heading with the symbol "R" or "Rx", which stands for the word recipe (meaning, in Latin, to take); the inscription, which contains the names and quantities of the ingredients; the subscription or directions for compounding the drug; and the signature which is often preceded by the sign "s" standing for signa (Latin for mark), giving the directions to be marked on the container.
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Pupil: The opening of the iris. The pupil may appear to open (dilate) and close (constrict) but it is really the iris that is the prime mover; the pupil is merely the absence of iris. The pupil determines how much light is let into the eye. Both pupils are usually of equal size. If they are not, that is termed anisocoria (from "a-", not + "iso", equal + "kore", pupil = not equal pupils).
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Refraction: In ophthalmology, the bending of light that takes place within the human eye.
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Regimen: With the accent on the first syllable (reg as in Reggie Jackson), a regimen is a plan, a regulated course such as a diet, exercise or treatment, designed to give a good result. A low-salt diet is a regimen.
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Rest: 1. Repose. Relaxation.
2. A fragment of embryonic tissue that has been retained after the period of embryonic development. Also called an embryonic rest.
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Saline: Relating to salt. As an adjective, "saline" means "salty, containing salt." As a noun "saline" is a salt solution, often adjusted to the normal salinity of the human body.
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Sensation: In medicine and physiology , sensation refers to the registration of an incoming ( afferent ) nerve impulse in that part of the brain called the sensorium , which is capable of such perception. Therefore, the awareness of a stimulus as a result of its perception by sensory receptors. (Sensory is here synonymous with sensation.)
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Sensitivity: 1. In psychology, the quality of being sensitive. As, for example, sensitivity training, training in small groups to develop a sensitive awareness and understanding of oneself and of ones relationships with others. 2. In disease epidemiology, the ability of a system to detect epidemics and other changes in disease occurrence. 3. In screening for a disease, the proportion of persons with the disease who are correctly identified by a screening test. 4. In the definition of a disease, the proportion of persons with the disease who are correctly identified by defined criteria.
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Sign: Any objective evidence of disease. Gross blood in the stool is a sign of disease. It can be recognized by the patient, doctor, nurse, or others. In contrast, a symptom is, by its nature, subjective. Abdominal pain is a symptom. It is something only the patient can know.
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Substance: 1. Material with particular features, as a pressor substance .
2. The material that makes up an organ or structure. Also known in medicine as the substantia.
3. A psychoactive drug as, for example, in substance abuse .
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Surgery: The word "surgery" has multiple meanings. It is the branch of medicine concerned with diseases and conditions which require or are amenable to operative procedures. Surgery is the work done by a surgeon. By analogy, the work of an editor wielding his pen as a scalpel is s form of surgery. A surgery in England (and some other countries) is a physician's or dentist's office.
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Thimerosal: A mercury-containing preservative used in some vaccines and other products since the 1930's. No harmful effects were reported from thimerosal at doses used in vaccines, except for minor local reactions like redness and swelling at the injection site. There was specifically no evidence that thimerosal increases the risk of developing autism or any other behavior disorder. However, in 1999 it was agreed that thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure. Today, all routinely recommended pediatric vaccines in the US contain no thimerosal or only trace amounts.
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Tissue: A tissue in medicine is not like a piece of tissue paper. It is a broad term that is applied to any group of cells that perform specific functions. A tissue in medicine need not form a layer. Thus,

• The bone marrow is a tissue;
• Connective tissue consists of cells that make up fibers in the framework supporting other body tissues; and
• Lymphoid tissue is the part of the body's immune system that helps protect it from bacteria and other foreign entities.

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Tonometry: A standard eye test that determines the fluid pressure inside the eye. Increased pressure is a possible sign of glaucoma , a common and potentially very serious eye problem if not detected and treated promptly. It is recommended that adults over age 40 have tonometry for glaucoma every 3 to 5 years by having their eye pressures measured.
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Transplant: The grafting of a tissue from one place to another, just as in botany a bud from one plant might be grafted onto the stem of another. The transplanting of tissue can be from one part of the patient to another (autologous transplantation), as in the case of a skin graft using the patient's own skin; or from one patient to another (allogenic transplantation), as in the case of transplanting a donor kidney into a recipient.
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Ulcer: An area of tissue erosion, for example, of the skin or lining of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Due to the erosion, an ulcer is concave. It is always depressed below the level of the surrounding tissue.
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Vessel: A tube in the body that carries fluids: blood vessels or lymph vessels.
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