Ophthalmology & ENT Abbreviations
74 abbreviations · part of Medical Abbreviations
Abbreviations for eye diseases, eye examinations and imaging, eyeglass prescriptions, refractive and retinal procedures, and ear, nose and throat conditions and hearing tests, as written in eye clinic notes, optical prescriptions, audiograms and otolaryngology reports. Eye charts use their own shorthand for vision too poor to read letters (CF, HM, LP, NLP), and eyeglass prescriptions list sphere, cylinder, axis and add power for each eye. Several letters, such as SLE, PD, ADD, PRP and IOP, mean something very different in other specialties, so entries explain how to tell them apart.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ABR | Auditory brainstem response | Test that records the electrical activity of the auditory nerve and brainstem in response to clicks or tones, using scalp electrodes. |
| ABRS | Acute bacterial rhinosinusitis | Sinus infection caused by bacteria, suspected when cold-like symptoms persist beyond 10 days without improvement, begin with high fever and purulent discharge for… |
| ADD | Near addition (add power) | Extra plus power on an eyeglass prescription for reading and close work, added to the distance prescription in bifocal, progressive or reading lenses. |
| AMD | Age-related macular degeneration | Degenerative disease of the macula, the center of the retina, and the leading cause of severe central vision loss in older adults in developed countries. |
| anti-VEGF | Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor | Class of drugs injected into the eye that block VEGF, a protein driving abnormal blood vessel growth and leakage. |
| AOM | Acute otitis media | Rapid-onset middle ear infection with fluid behind a bulging, inflamed eardrum, causing ear pain, fever and irritability, most often in children aged 6 to 24 months. |
| AR | Allergic rhinitis | Inflammation of the nasal lining triggered by inhaled allergens such as pollen, dust mites, mold or animal dander, causing sneezing, itching, runny nose and congestion. |
| AREDS | Age-Related Eye Disease Study | Large US National Eye Institute trial, with results published in 2001, showing that a specific high-dose vitamin and mineral supplement reduced the risk of progression… |
| ARMD | Age-related macular degeneration | Alternative abbreviation for age-related macular degeneration, seen in older records, some billing systems and British texts. |
| BCVA | Best-corrected visual acuity | Sharpest vision an eye can achieve with the best glasses or contact lens correction, measured after refraction. |
| BOM | Bilateral otitis media | Chart shorthand for otitis media affecting both ears at the same time, usually meaning acute infection in both middle ears. |
| BPPV | Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo | The most common cause of vertigo, in which displaced crystals (otoconia) drift into a semicircular canal of the inner ear, causing brief spinning episodes, usually… |
| BRVO | Branch retinal vein occlusion | Blockage of a branch of the retinal vein, typically where an artery crosses over it, causing hemorrhages in one sector of the retina and blurred vision if the macula is… |
| C/D | Cup-to-disc ratio | Ratio of the diameter of the central pale cup of the optic nerve head to the diameter of the whole disc, used to assess glaucoma. |
| CF | Counting fingers | Visual acuity recording used when a patient cannot read the largest letter on the chart but can count the examiner's fingers at a stated distance, such as "CF at 3 feet". |
| CHL | Conductive hearing loss | Hearing loss caused by a problem conducting sound through the outer or middle ear, such as earwax blockage, fluid, eardrum perforation or otosclerosis. |
| CI | Cochlear implant | Surgically implanted device that bypasses damaged hair cells by directly stimulating the auditory nerve with an electrode array in the cochlea, connected to an external… |
| CRAO | Central retinal artery occlusion | Blockage of the main artery supplying the retina, usually by an embolus, causing sudden painless severe vision loss in one eye. |
| CRS | Chronic rhinosinusitis | Inflammation of the nose and sinuses lasting at least 12 weeks, with two or more of nasal blockage, discharge, facial pain or pressure, and reduced sense of smell… |
| CRVO | Central retinal vein occlusion | Blockage of the main vein draining the retina, causing painless blurred vision with widespread retinal hemorrhages, dilated veins and often macular swelling. |
| CSOM | Chronic suppurative otitis media | Long-standing infection of the middle ear with persistent drainage through a perforated eardrum, typically lasting more than two to six weeks. |
| CSR | Central serous retinopathy | Condition in which fluid collects under the central retina, causing blurred or distorted vision, typically in one eye of a young or middle-aged man. |
| CYL | Cylinder | Column on an eyeglass prescription giving the extra lens power, in diopters, needed to correct astigmatism. |
| DES | Dry eye syndrome | Common condition in which the eyes do not produce enough tears or tears evaporate too quickly, causing burning, grittiness, redness, fluctuating vision and sometimes… |
| DFE | Dilated fundus examination | Eye exam performed after dilating the pupils with drops so the clinician can see the retina, optic nerve and blood vessels at the back of the eye. |
| DME | Diabetic macular edema | Swelling of the macula from leaking retinal blood vessels in diabetes, the most common cause of vision loss in people with diabetic retinopathy. |
| DR | Diabetic retinopathy | Damage to the retinal blood vessels caused by diabetes, the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults in many countries. |
| ERM | Epiretinal membrane | Thin layer of scar-like tissue that forms on the surface of the macula, sometimes causing distorted or blurry central vision. |
| ETD | Eustachian tube dysfunction | Failure of the Eustachian tube, which connects the middle ear to the back of the nose, to open and equalize pressure properly. |
| FA | Fluorescein angiography | Diagnostic test in which fluorescein dye is injected into an arm vein and rapid photographs of the retina show how it circulates, revealing leakage, blocked vessels and… |
| GAT | Goldmann applanation tonometry | Standard method of measuring eye pressure in which a small prism attached to a slit lamp gently flattens a fixed area of the numbed cornea, with fluorescein dye showing… |
| HM | Hand motion | Visual acuity level recorded when a patient cannot count fingers but can see the examiner's hand moving in front of the eye. |
| HZO | Herpes zoster ophthalmicus | Shingles affecting the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve, causing a painful rash on the forehead, upper eyelid and sometimes nose, with possible inflammation of… |
| ICL | Implantable collamer lens | Thin artificial lens implanted inside the eye in front of the natural lens, behind the iris, to correct moderate to high nearsightedness without removing tissue. |
| IOP | Intraocular pressure | Fluid pressure inside the eye, measured in millimeters of mercury, normally about 10–21 mmHg. |
| LP | Light perception | Visual acuity level in which an eye can detect only whether a light is on or off. |
| LPI | Laser peripheral iridotomy | Office laser procedure that makes a tiny hole in the outer edge of the iris, letting fluid bypass the pupil and deepening the drainage angle. |
| LPR | Laryngopharyngeal reflux | Backflow of stomach contents up to the throat and voice box, causing hoarseness, chronic throat clearing, a lump-in-the-throat feeling and cough, often without typical… |
| MGD | Meibomian gland dysfunction | Blockage or poor function of the oil glands along the eyelid margins, which normally supply the oily layer that keeps tears from evaporating. |
| NAION | Nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy | Sudden, painless vision loss in one eye from reduced blood flow to the front of the optic nerve, the most common acute optic neuropathy in adults over 50. |
| NIHL | Noise-induced hearing loss | Permanent sensorineural hearing loss caused by exposure to loud sound, from a single blast or from years of occupational, recreational or music noise. |
| NLP | No light perception | Complete absence of light perception in an eye, the lowest level on the visual acuity scale, indicating total blindness in that eye. |
| NPC | Nasopharyngeal carcinoma | Cancer arising in the nasopharynx, the space behind the nose, strongly associated with Epstein-Barr virus and especially common in southern China and Southeast Asia. |
| NPDR | Nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy | Earlier stage of diabetic retinopathy with microaneurysms, dot-blot hemorrhages, hard exudates and cotton wool spots but no new blood vessel growth. |
| NTG | Normal-tension glaucoma | Form of open-angle glaucoma in which optic nerve damage and visual field loss occur even though eye pressure stays in the normal range. |
| OAE | Otoacoustic emissions | Faint sounds produced by healthy outer hair cells of the cochlea in response to sound, recorded with a small probe in the ear canal. |
| OCT | Optical coherence tomography | Noninvasive imaging test that uses light waves to produce cross-sectional pictures of the retina and optic nerve with micrometer resolution, in seconds and without… |
| OE | Otitis externa | Inflammation and infection of the outer ear canal, commonly called swimmer's ear, usually caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Staphylococcus aureus after water exposure… |
| OM | Otitis media | Inflammation or infection of the middle ear, the air-filled space behind the eardrum, very common in young children. |
| OME | Otitis media with effusion | Fluid in the middle ear without signs of acute infection, often lingering after an ear infection or a cold. |
| PACG | Primary angle-closure glaucoma | Glaucoma in which the iris blocks the eye's drainage angle, raising pressure. |
| PCO | Posterior capsule opacification | Clouding of the thin membrane that holds an artificial lens after cataract surgery, causing gradually blurred or hazy vision months to years later. |
| PD | Pupillary distance | Distance in millimeters between the centers of the pupils, needed to position the optical centers of eyeglass lenses correctly in front of the eyes. |
| PDR | Proliferative diabetic retinopathy | Advanced diabetic retinopathy in which oxygen-starved retina grows fragile new blood vessels that can bleed into the vitreous or pull the retina off, causing severe… |
| PND | Postnasal drip | Sensation of mucus draining from the back of the nose into the throat, causing throat clearing, cough and sore throat. |
| POAG | Primary open-angle glaucoma | The most common form of glaucoma in the US, a chronic optic nerve disease in which peripheral vision is gradually lost without pain or early symptoms. |
| PRP | Panretinal photocoagulation | Laser treatment that places hundreds to thousands of small burns across the peripheral retina to reduce its oxygen demand and make abnormal new blood vessels regress. |
| PTA | Peritonsillar abscess | Collection of pus beside a tonsil, the most common deep neck infection in adolescents and young adults, causing severe one-sided sore throat, difficulty opening the… |
| PVD | Posterior vitreous detachment | Normal age-related separation of the gel-like vitreous from the retina, causing sudden floaters and sometimes flashes. |
| RAPD | Relative afferent pupillary defect | Sign of unequal input from the two optic nerves, detected with the swinging flashlight test: when light swings to the affected eye, both pupils paradoxically dilate. |
| RD | Retinal detachment | Separation of the retina from the underlying layer that supports it, causing new floaters, flashes of light and a shadow or curtain spreading across the vision. |
| RP | Retinitis pigmentosa | Group of inherited retinal diseases in which rod and later cone photoreceptors degenerate, typically causing night blindness in youth, then progressive loss of… |
| SLE | Slit-lamp examination | Eye examination using a biomicroscope that projects a thin beam of light, allowing magnified, three-dimensional views of the eyelids, cornea, iris, lens and, with extra… |
| SLT | Selective laser trabeculoplasty | Laser treatment for open-angle glaucoma that applies low-energy pulses to the eye's drainage tissue (trabecular meshwork), improving outflow and lowering pressure. |
| SMILE | Small incision lenticule extraction | Laser vision correction in which a femtosecond laser cuts a thin lens-shaped piece of corneal tissue (lenticule) that is then removed through a small incision of a few… |
| SNHL | Sensorineural hearing loss | Hearing loss caused by damage to the inner ear (cochlea) or the auditory nerve, the most common type of permanent hearing loss. |
| SPH | Sphere | Column on an eyeglass or contact lens prescription giving the lens power in diopters that corrects nearsightedness (minus values) or farsightedness (plus values)… |
| SRT | Speech reception threshold | Softest level at which a listener can correctly repeat half of a list of familiar two-syllable words (spondees such as "baseball" or "hot dog"), measured during a… |
| SSNHL | Sudden sensorineural hearing loss | Rapid loss of hearing of at least 30 decibels across three consecutive frequencies within 72 hours, usually in one ear and often noticed on waking. |
| TED | Thyroid eye disease | Autoimmune inflammation of the tissues around the eyes, usually with Graves' disease, causing bulging eyes, eyelid retraction, gritty discomfort, double vision and, in… |
| VA | Visual acuity | Measure of the sharpness of central vision, usually tested one eye at a time with a Snellen chart at 20 feet and recorded as a fraction such as 20/20 or 20/40. |
| VF | Visual field | Full extent of what a person can see, including peripheral vision, while looking straight ahead. |
| VNG | Videonystagmography | Balance test in which infrared video goggles record eye movements while the patient follows targets, changes position and has warm and cool air or water placed in each… |
| YAG | YAG laser capsulotomy | Office laser procedure that uses a neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser to open a clear window in a clouded posterior lens capsule after cataract… |
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