Chapter 11 Learning Exercises Medical Terminology (2024)

FAQs

What medical term means the presence of what appear to be flashes of light? ›

Photopsia is the presence of perceived flashes of light in the field of vision.

Create a bingo grid with a set of terms you want to learn and a stack of answer cards with the definitions written on them. The great part about this technique is you can play with people like a group of friends or your mom with little or no healthcare background.

Vertigo is a sensation of spinning, whirling or turning. Individuals often feel as if the room is moving or spinning, and they can lose their balance and have difficulty standing or walking. During the vertigo spells, affected individuals often have abnormal eye movements as well (nystagmus).

Fluorescein angiography is an eye test that uses a special dye and camera to look at blood flow in the retina and choroid. These are the two layers in the back of the eye.

Phosphenes are those images of light or color that you can see while your eye is closed.

A photopsia is a visual disturbance, a flash of light that happens without a light source. You may see sparkles or shapes like lightning bolts.

Learning medical terminology isn't as difficult as you'd think. Not if you approach it right, with the right strategies and right resources.

Medical terminology is notoriously complicated, given the Latin and Greek origins of many medical terms. Then there are the eponyms (words derived from someone's name), such as listeriosis or Guillain–Barré syndrome. Below is a list of complicated medical terms and their simpler explanations.

Vertigo is a sensation of motion or spinning that is often described as dizziness. Vertigo is not the same as being lightheaded. People with vertigo feel as though they are actually spinning or moving, or that the world is spinning around them.

What sense is messed up when we feel dizzy and off balance? ›

Vertigo is the false sense that your surroundings are spinning or moving. With inner ear disorders, your brain receives signals from the inner ear that aren't consistent with what your eyes and sensory nerves are receiving. Vertigo is what results as your brain works to sort out the confusion.

The most common causes of imbalance without dizziness are related to dysfunction of the muscles, joints and peripheral nerves (proprioceptive system), or the central nervous system (brain). People with bilateral vestibulopathy have balance issues but no dizziness if the damage affects both ears at the same time.

Floaters usually happen because of normal changes in your eyes. As you age, tiny strands of your vitreous (the gel-like fluid that fills your eye) stick together and cast shadows on your retina (the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye). Those shadows appear as floaters.

English texts from at least 1475 have used epiphora to mean tearing or excessive tearing. It essentially means an abnormal overflow of tears from the eye onto the face.

Eyelid ptosis is a downward displacement of the eyelid margin and more commonly occurs in the upper eyelid. Upper eyelid ptosis can be caused by structures in the anterior or posterior parts of the eyelid.

A strobe light or stroboscopic lamp, commonly called a strobe, is a device used to produce regular flashes of light.

Flickering or blinking lights are usually caused by one of the following: Problem with the bulb (not in tight enough, lightbulbs are incompatible with your dimmers) Loose light plug. Faulty switch or dimmer.

Light Flashes (LF) in space are abnormal visual perceptions thought to originate from the interaction of cosmic radiation with the human visual system. They are perceived by astronauts usually after a period of dark adaptation of the eye.

The term “photopsia” describes the perception of light arising without an external light stimulus in the context of a pathological condition, most commonly affecting the retina. From: Handbook of Clinical Neurology, 2021.