Professional Documents
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examination, which should be given to all patients as part of a general physical examination. Basic eye
examination:
● History;
● Visual Acuity;
● Eyelids (just a penlight is needed);
● Anterior Segment;
● Pupillary Reflexes;
● Extraocular muscles function: Ocular Alignment/Ocular Motility;
● Direct Ophthalmoscopy: to look at the posterior pole and observe the optic nerve, the retina and its
vessels, and the macula. With the direct ophthalmoscope it is possible to diagnose glaucoma;
● Confrontation Visual Field, which is a basic test of the visual field.
History - At least 50% of a correct diagnosis can be made with a “well-done” medical and ophthalmic
history to assess risk factors for ocular diseases. Symptoms referred by patients are rather typical, and
therefore helpful for the diagnosis.
• Vegetables – broccoli and spinach are the best for the retina.
Family history:
− Glaucoma;
− Age-related macular degeneration (AMD);
− Refractive Errors, Strabismus, Amblyopia;
− Retinal Detachment;
− Ocular Tumors.
These diseases are more common in families à higher risk for the patient when becoming older.
Medical history:
− Age.
− Smoke, Hypertension, Hyperlipidaemia: age and smoke are the major risk factors for AMD;
− Diabetes;
− Carotid Stenosis: the eye is provided with vessels, and in particular it receives its supply from the
internal carotid artery. In some cases, cardiovascular risk factors are also risk factors for
glaucoma;
− Autoimmune Diseases;
− Malignancy;
− Thyroid Diseases.
Ophthalmic history:
− Previous good vision? In both eyes?
− Use of lenses?
− Previous ocular diseases, surgery1, or laser;
− Previous ocular trauma: useful to understand potential consequences on visual function.
A minimal eye examination should be performed by the general practitioner to examine a patient with
visual problems or with pathologies linked to eyeball or vision. A basic eye examination includes:
● Visual acuity
● Pupillary reflex
● Eye movements
● Direct ophthalmoscopy to look at the posterior pole and observe the optic nerve, the retina and its
vessels, and the macula.
● Direct examination of the lids and anterior segment
● Gross exam of the visual field, called Confrontation or Donders' test
Visual Acuity (VA) - is fundamental in the analysis of visual function. It should be tested whenever
the patient complains of decreased vision, which is the most common symptom referred by the
patients, even though frequently visual acuity is unaltered and only the subjective perception is
decreased.
Visual Acuity Test - is a measurement of the smallest object a person can identify at a given distance
from the eye. The object has to be easily recognized (letter, numbers or drawings can be used). It
depends on the smallest element that enables the letter/number/drawing to be identified at a given
distance.
• Letters are different and some may be more easily recognized than others (e.g. L is easier to
recognize in compare to S).
• Another factor that has to be considered is patient cooperation.
• If a child is admitted to VA test, the examiner has to make sure that the child knows how to read,
otherwise a different (non-letter) type of chart has to be used.
• Cheating has to be considered for driving license and also with reimbursements, for example with
insurances, where the patient may fake a clinical picture worse than the actual one. In this case an
ophthalmologist has several instruments to examine the eye and detect the “real” problem, but for
a general practitioner it is harder.
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The test: Snellen charts -Visual acuity is
tested with the Snellen charts used
worldwide, but with local differences (due to
different alphabet, phonetics, numbers, etc.).
• Pointing at letters improves recognition.
• In Italy VA is the last line seen for at
least half of the letters at a distance of,
usually, 5 meters.
• In the US, Snellen fraction is used Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1
instead: VA= (Testing distance) /
(distance at which the smallest letter
identified subtends a normal VA) e.g. in a
3m chart a patient with normal vision is
able to read the 10th line when at 3m
distance; the same person when at 30m is
able to read the 1st line.
• Some charts include both 10ths and Snellen ratios.
• If the patient cannot see any letter, the distance of the patient from the chart is reduced. If he still
cannot recognize any letter, he is asked to count fingers, if he cannot do that, he required to
recognize hand motion and then, light.
Visual Acuity: Driving License in Italy - The visual acuity needed for a driving license in Italy is of
at least 10/10 totally (at least 8+2); this is not so high, and most individuals fulfill this requirement.
The acuity must be at least 2/10 in the worse eye (8/10 in the other) with or
without glasses. In case of glasses, the difference between the two lenses
should be ≤ 3D (diopters). Otherwise, there could be difficulties in merging
the two images formed from the lenses at the level of the cortex, resulting in
double vision.
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• In figure 2, the superior eyelid is inflamed, and there is localized swelling
possibly due to a chalazion or even a stye.
• In figure 3, the right eye is normal while the left one is not. In the left
eye there is swelling in both the inferior and superior eyelids (edema). Figure 2: Chalazion or a Stye
The vessels that reach the anterior segment also reach the eyelids, so the
inflammation of the anterior segment, such as in conjunctivitis, usually
involves also the eyelids. The eyelids are composed of loose connective
tissue, so they swell easily and there is some exudation. Thus, if there is a
slight swelling of the eyelids, it is usually not a direct inflammation.
• In figure 5, there is a fold of the skin and ptosis of the upper eyelid; the upper eyelids
cover more than 2mm of the upper cornea. This is due to aging. The patient does not
have any visual problems unless the eyelids droop until they cover the central part of
the cornea, the visual axis.
Figure 5: Drooping and Ptosis
of the Upper Eyelids
• In figure 6, the eye is red but there is no swelling of the conjunctiva. At the level of the
conjunctiva, there is an inflammatory reaction with neutrophilic infiltration against a
foreign body which penetrated the eye. The cornea is completely avascular since it
must be completely transparent, so when inflamed, there is hyperemia and
vasodilation around the cornea.
• In figure 8, there is no inflammation, but the transparency of the cornea is altered due
to a whitish scar formation, called leukoma, which makes the iris behind the cornea
unclear. If the scar affects the visual axis, visual acuity is reduced. Scarring could be
due to a foreign body, an infiltration, or an ulcer of the cornea.
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• Figure 13a depicts pupillary miosis (small pupil) which is
typical of anterior uveitis; the eyes are red, no exudation and
no swelling of the conjunctiva (excluding conjunctivitis), pain
inside the eye, no foreign body sensation, no burning, acutely
reduced vision.
• Inside the anterior chamber, there are leukocytes and proteins, Figure 13a: Miosis in Figure 13b: Adhesion in
which lead to the formation of adhesions between the pupil and anterior uveitis anterior uveitis
the lens. Thus, when examining an eye with a history of uveitis,
the shape of the pupil can be irregular and not round due to the presence of the adhesion. Here,
there is also a complete gerontoxon (lipid deposition) around the cornea. A
typical gerontoxon is whitish and there is a free small area of cornea between the
cornea and limbus.
• In figure 14, pupil size is bigger than in uveitis: mydriasis. In this case there is
severe pain, loss of vision, red eye (but not conjunctivitis since no swelling and
no exudation are present), no reaction to light. This is a typical acute glaucoma.
• The iris is not clearly visible due to corneal edema; water is inside the cornea
increasing the intraocular pressure and consequently pushing the water Figure 14: Acute glaucoma
through the corneal endothelium inside the corneal stroma. The corneal edema
reduces the visual acuity.
• The difference between acute glaucoma and anterior uveitis is mainly the dimension of the pupil:
in anterior uveitis, the pupil is restricted and in the acute glaucoma the pupil is dilated and thick.
Marcus Gunn Pupil - is a widespread unilateral retinal or optic nerve disease detectable via the
pupillary reflex examination. With a penlight, light is shined into a normal pupil and there will be a
direct and consensual reflex to light. The light is moved from right to left side and again there will be
a direct and consensual constriction of the left and right pupils respectively. Thus, Marcus Gunn Pupil
is tested by moving the light from the normal to the pathological pupil. In the pathological pupil,
there will be pupillary dilation (both direct and consensual pupillary reflex) instead of constriction.
This means there is a serious, widespread damage of the optic nerve and/or of the retina of the
damaged side. For example, an occlusion of the central retinal artery results in afferent pupillary
defect. In unilateral damage, the light stimulus is not transmitted to the visual pathway of both sides.
When light is shined in the affected pupil, there is no visual stimulus at the level of the retina or
travelling to the optic nerve. Thus, there is a consequent pupillary dilation.
Anterior Chamber Depth - When shining the light from the temporal
side of the patient, if the iris looks completely lit, it means that the iris is
flat and the anterior chamber is deep, while if only half of the iris is lit the
anterior chamber is shallow and the iris has a curved shape, as in fig. 1.
The reason for checking for anterior chamber depth is that closed angle
glaucoma (a disease predominantly affecting middle aged
hyperopicfemales) is due a shallow anterior chamber. This disease is
otherwise rather difficult to recognize. A confirmed closed angle glaucoma Fig. 1
patient must be referred to a glaucoma specialist.
• Hyperopia – shorter eye than normal, the opposite of myopia. To
confirm it, you should measure the depth of the anteroposterior axis with echography.
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Ocular Alignment - In a normal subject the eyes must be Fig. 2: In the middle
aligned in the primary position. If the eyes are aligned the
picture, the reflex is
corneal reflex, i.e. the reflex of a pen light flashed in the eye of
the patient, falls inside the pupil, and is located in its center located more temporally
slightly on the nasal side. It must be symmetrical in both eyes. than expected, hence the
If this is not the case, the patient has a strabismus. Esodeviation eye is nasally deviated. The
is defined as a movement of the eye towards the nose, opposite is true in the
exodeviation as a deviation toward the temporal bone.
bottom picture.
Ocular motility gives information about extra-ocular muscles function and innervation. If the eyes are moving
in a coordinated manner, their function is normal.
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Ocular motility is checked in the first place when the patient complains about diplopia. This can be caused,
among others, by muscular weakness or paralysis, by brain stem ischemia or tumors.
In fig. 8, the right eye cannot move temporally: In fig.9, the patient presents a ptosis of the left
the involved muscle is the right lateral rectus, eye. Innervation of the upper eyelid muscles
innervated by the 6th CN. The hypothesis is CN (levator palpebrae superioris and superior
VI palsy. tarsal muscles) comes from the CN III and from
the sympathetic nervous system, which keeps
the eyes open when the person is awake. It is
Direct Ophthalmoscopy - is an easy test that allows to look a case of CN III palsy.
through the pupil and directly see the blood vessels (arterioles and venules) in the retina, which is the only
tissue where it is possible to do so, by using the ophthalmoscope. If the patient has a vascular problem
(hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia) an eye examination shows how well the disease is controlled. - -
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The examination is easier if one drop of a mydriatic drug, i.e. a drug that dilates the pupil, is used. The only
problem is when dilating the pupil in a patient that has a shallow anterior chamber, because this would crowd
the angle, block the aqueous humor outflow, which may cause a sudden increase in intraocular pressure,
possibly causing an acute glaucoma.
In fig. 14, hemorrhages can be observed. The optic nerve head does not have sharp margins, because it is
swollen, with exudate and hemorrhage. Veins are enlarged and tortuous, signaling that the patient has
an occlusion of the central retinal vein. There is also probably an edema at the level of the macula, even
though in this image it cannot be visualized clearly. The green spot on the left is a choroid nevus.
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Fig. 15. Veins are not dilated but there is Fig. 16. The posterior pole has an opaque color, due to
hemorrhage and ‘hard exudates’ (made up of an occlusion of the central retinal artery (the tissue is
lipoproteins, caused by the fact that vessels are ischemic). The appearance of the retina is defined as
leaky), visible as whitish inside the retina. ‘white with a cherry red macula’. The fovea is able to
Diabetes is a systemic disease that increases the retain its naturally red color because it is not
permeability of the vessels, so the patient has vascularized (it is made of very packed cones) and
diabetic retinopathy. Possible macular edema. receives nourishment from the choroid, hence is not
affected.
Red Reflex - A red reflex in a child is normal. Any change can be significant for a
disease. Leukocoria (“white pupil”) may indicate a congenital problem, a congenital
cataract, a neuroblastoma, Retrolental fibroplasia (ROP).
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