Ophthalmology has been one of the fastest growing specialties in the world. The advances in the field in the last three decades has been astounding. In the early 1980s, a cataract surgery required a 10 day hospital stay with a few nylon/steel sutures to the eye and yet have sub-optimal visual outcomes. Today the same cataract surgery can be done as a day care procedure of about 10 minutes duration with just topical anesthesia (anesthetic in the form of eye drops), through a pinhole probe and no sutures at all. The post operative outcomes have risen to give patients 6/6 vision and sometimes they don’t even need spectacles after surgery.
Ophthalmology is “The Science of Eyes”.
The term Ophthalmology has been derived from the Greek language, ophthalmos means “eye” and logia means “Study of course”.
A doctor who specializes in surgical and medical eye problems are generally termed as “Ophthalmologists”.