DEPARTMENT OF OPHTALMOLGY & VISUAL SCIENCES

DOW UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES, KARACHI.

B.S PROGRAM
SEMESTER III, YEAR II
SYLLABUS

Title: VISUAL OPTICS (OPT-505)

Credit Hrs: 03

Placement: Semester III, Year II.

Course Description:

The course will cover the general optometric theory and refractive management of the patients
suffering from different types of refractive errors. The students will learn the problems and
their examination techniques and approach to diagnose a visual problem.

Evaluation Criteria:

Internal Evaluation: 15%

Mid-term Examination: 15%

Terminal Examination: 70%

Total: 100%

COURSE CONTENTS:
Course includes the following topics:
1. Optical system of the eye – the schematic and reduced eye.
2. Emmetropization
3. Physiological optics
• The formation of retinal images
• The optical axis and the visual axis
• Angle alpha, gamma and kappa
• The optical defects of the eye
4. Aberrations of the optical systems
• Aberrations of optical systems
 • Aberrations of the optical system of eye and their effects
• Diffraction of light
• Chromatic aberrations
• Spherical aberration
• Natural decentering of the optical system of the eye and its effects
• Peripheral aberrations
5. Optics of Emmetropia And Ametropia
• Optics of Emmetropia and Ametropia and ocular dominance
• Changes in the refractive status of the eye with ageing
6. Errors of Refraction
• Prevalence of refractive errors
• Inheritance of refractive errors
• Types
7. Accommodation:
• Variation with age,
• Range and Amplitude of accommodation,
• AC/ A ratio
• Anomalies of accommodation,
8. Hypermetropia & Myopia
• Hypermetropia
• Causes
• Optics
• Accommodation in hypermetropia, latent, manifest, facultative and total
hypermetropia.
• Clinical features
• The hypermetropic fundus
• Correction
• In children and young adults
• In adults
❖ Myopia
• Etiology & Optics
• Progression
• Clinical features & Clinical types
• The myopic fundus
• Complications of pathological myopic
• Treatment
9. Astigmatism
• Etiology
• Optics
• Types
• Clinical features & Treatment
 10. Aphakia and Pseudophakia
• Optics of aphakia and the quality of vision with disadvantages of aphakia.
• Image enlargement and aniseikonia
• Loss of all accommodation
• Problems of unilateral aphakia
• Relative spectacle magnification
• Treatment options
❖ Pseudophakia
• Pseudophakia calculations and biometry
• Optics of Pseudophakia
• Management Pseudophakia optical problems
• Reading correction with Pseudophakia
• Surgically induced refractive errors and their management
• Anisometropia
11. Presbyopia and correction methods
12. Assessment of VA: Factors affecting visual acuity, Eye-strain, Headache and
Psychological factors, Symptoms.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
• To understand Optical System of the eye, formation of retinal images and aberrations of
the eye.
• To have basic knowledge of Optics of Emmetropia, Ammetropia, Presbyopia, Aphakia
and Pseudophakia and their correction methods.
• To have basic knowledge of accommodation, its variation with age, Range and
Amplitude of accommodation, Anomalies of accommodation.
• To have basic knowledge of clinical refraction and its methods.
• To know basic definitions such as Antimetropia, Anisometropia, Aniseikonia and
Anisocoria.

Recommended Books:
1. Clinical refraction -William J.Benjamin
2. Duke-Elder's Practice of refraction- Stewart Duke-Elder
3. Clinical Optics -A.R. Elkington and Helena J. Frank
4. Clinical Optics- American Academy of Ophthalmology
5. Clinical Optics & Refraction – Andrew William Kerl
6. Optics, Refraction & Contact Lenses – AK Khurrana