The eye, seemingly a small organ of the body, has the most important function of sight. Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine which is responsible for maintaining and preserving sight whether it is in the form of prescribing glasses, treating sight threatening diseases like corneal ulcers or operating for cataract and retinal diseases. It is unique in a way that ophthalmologist are ocular physicians and ocular surgeons at the same time.
Ophthalmology has undergone vast technological advancement in a few decades. Sophisticated diagnostic tests have evolved which can isolate and diagnose diseases for any part of the eye. Numerous Lasers are there for treatment of ocular diseases and even for removal of glasses. Surgeries have become suture less and computer guided because of which blindness and visual disability is continuously declining.
Being a medical student and a doctor, one should be aware of the common eye diseases, their initial management and should be familiar with the advance eye machinery. But the most important of them all should be able to detect eye emergency for prompt referral to an ophthalmologist.
MBBS, FCPS