orthoptics
/ɔːˈθɒptɪks
/plural noun [treated as singular]
The study or treatment of irregularities of the eyes, especially those of the eye muscles that prevent normal binocular vision.A course in orthoptics takes three years of study....
- It will also facilitate speech and language therapy, community welfare, orthoptics, psychology, home support services, home meals services and day care services for older people.
- Situated in a busy teaching hospital, the Academic Unit of Ophthalmology and Orthoptics provides facilities for both clinical and laboratory based research.
Derivatives
orthoptic
/ adjective ...- Plastic spectacle prisms, based on the same principle, are invaluable orthoptic aids to therapy.
- Prescribed orthoptic treatment. This relates to the correction of vision through exercising the eye muscles.
- A prospective UK cohort study found no difference in the prevalence of amblyopia between children who had been offered primary orthoptic screening at 3 years and children offered only surveillance by a health visitor.
orthoptist
/ noun ...- So ideally, for children to go through the early child health clinics, involving family doctors orthoptists, nurses, to make the screening available.
- Amblyopia is treated by an eye specialist and an orthoptist (a specialist in childhood eye problems).
- In the future, the government plans that a sight test should be given by an orthoptist (a specialist in vision and eye abnormalities) between the ages of 4 and 5 years.
Origin
Late 19th century: from ortho- 'correct' + Greek optikos (see optic).