New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eye examination

An eye examination is a battery of tests performed by an ophthalmologist or optometrist assessing vision and ability to focus on and discern objects, as well as other tests and examinations pertaining to the eyes. All people should have periodic and thorough eye examinations as part of routine care by the primary care physician, especially since many eye diseases are silent or asymptomatic.

Eye examinations may detect potentially treatable blinding eye diseases, ocular manifestations of systemic disease, or signs of tumours or other anomalies of the brain. Visual acuity is the eye's ability to detect fine details and is the quantitative measure of the eye's ability to see an in-focus image at a certain distance. The standard definition of normal visual acuity (20/20 or 6/6 vision) is the ability to resolve a spatial pattern separated by a visual angle of one minute of arc. The terms 20/20 and 6/6 are derived from standardized sized objects that can be seen by a "person of normal vision" at the specified distance. For example, if one can see the normal object that can usually be seen at 20 ft at a distance of 20 ft, then you have 20/20. If one can see at 20 ft what a normal person can see at 40 ft, then the vision is 20/40. Similarly, if one can see at 20 ft an object size that normally can be seen at 200 ft, then the vision is 20/200.

Related Stories
 


Health & Medicine News

August 26, 2026

Moderate calorie restriction lowered an immune protein called C3 that appears to help drive chronic inflammation as the body ages. Blocking the same protein reduced age related inflammation in mice, ...
Britain’s postwar sugar rationing created a rare natural experiment that let researchers examine how early sugar exposure might affect health decades later. People who experienced more rationing during their first 1,000 days had lower rates of ...
A compound found in turmeric may help protect blood vessels from some of the damage caused by Type 1 diabetes. In rats, curcumin reduced inflammation, improved cellular signaling, and restored vascular health to levels resembling those of ...
A wavelength of light largely missing from indoor LEDs may play an important role in protecting developing eyes from nearsightedness. Researchers found that indigo light completely prevented myopia in tree shrews, whose eyes share important ...
Early-life stress may physically alter how DNA is packaged in the brain, leaving stress-related genes primed to activate more easily years later. In mice, researchers were able to block this effect, preventing the heightened anxiety and stress ...
A low-carb diet may raise LDL cholesterol much more sharply in people who are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol, particularly when they consume lots of saturated fat. The findings could help explain why people following seemingly similar ...
Older adults who received the Shingrix shingles vaccine were 24% less likely to be diagnosed with dementia over four years in a study of more than 500,000 people. Researchers estimate the difference could amount to roughly one dementia case ...
Researchers have found a way to supercharge natural killer cells, powerful immune cells that can attack cancer, so they can penetrate solid tumors and keep fighting once inside. In mice, these ...
A major study found that adults with depression show disrupted production of new neurons in the hippocampus, potentially weakening the brain’s ability to separate new experiences from painful memories. The researchers also identified broad ...
People who reach 110 and beyond appear to have unusually large numbers of rare immune cells capable of killing abnormal cells. These CD4 cytotoxic T cells became more common with age and often expanded into large groups of nearly identical cells, ...
Common medications may reshape the gut microbiome long after the last dose is taken. In a study of more than 2,500 people, researchers found lasting microbial changes linked not only to antibiotics, but also to antidepressants, beta-blockers, ...
Backyard bird feeders could become unexpected hotspots for H5N1 as Australia’s bird flu outbreak spreads, bringing species together in ways that rarely occur naturally. Experts say stopping feeding is safest, while smaller amounts of food, no ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:56 pm ET