Retinal Glossary

  • Angiography
    • Imaging of the retinal blood vessels using dye and photography
  • Arterial occlusion
    • Blockage of incoming blood
  • Cataract
    • Discoloration of the natural lens
  • Choroidal Nevus
    • A freckle in the back of the eye beneath the retina that should be monitored at least yearly by your eye doctor
  • Diabetic retinopathy
    • Damage to retinal blood vessels from diabetes
  • Disc edema
    • Swelling of the optic nerve
  • Drusen
    • Collections of RPE by-products beneath the retina
  • Dry ARMD
    • Changes in the pigment layer of the macula leading to deterioration
  • Epiretinal membrane
    • Abnormal thickening of the surface of the macula at the interface with the vitreous gel
  • Glaucoma
    • Damage to the optic nerve from high eye pressure
  • Hard exudates
    • Lipid leakage from damaged retinal blood vessels
  • Hemorrhage
    • Bleeding
  • Ischemia
    • Loss of blood flow
  • Laser surgery
    • Repair of the retina or retinal blood vessels using light energy
  • Lattice degeneration
    • Thinning of the retina mimicking latticework
  • Macroaneurysm
    • Enlargement and out-pouching of an arterial wall
  • Macula
    • The central area of the retina necessary for fine detailed vision
  • Macular degeneration
    • Deterioration of the central retina leading to decreased vision
  • Macular edema
    • Swelling of the central area of the retina
  • Macular hole
    • A gap in the tissue at the central retina
  • Myopic degeneration
    • Retinal degeneration due to elongation of the eye
  • Neovascularization
    • Abnormal blood vessels
  • OCT
    • Laser imaging of the retina
  • Optic Nerve
    • The collection of fibers from the retina going back through the eye to the brain
  • Partial macular hole
    • A partial loss of tissue at the central retina
  • PED
    • Abnormal fluid or deposits beneath the RPE layer
  • Retina
    • The thin layer at the back of the eye that captures light to begin to create vision
  • Retina Detachment
    • Separation of the retina from the back of the eye wall that leads to vision loss
  • Retinal Tear
    • A break in the retina
  • Retinoschisis
    • Anatomic split with in the retinal layers
  • RPE
    • A specialized pigment layer beneath the retina that acts like the maintenance service for the retina
  • Scleritis
    • painful inflammation of the eye wall
  • Scleromalacia
    • Thinning of the eye wall
  • Subretinal fluid
    • Fluid beneath the retina
  • Subretinal fibrosis
    • Scarring beneath the retina
  • Uveitis
    • Inflammation of the eye
  • Vasculitis
    • Inflammation of the retinal blood vessels with disruption in blood flow
  • Vein occlusion
    • Blockage of blood out flow
  • Vitreous
    • The gel structure in the middle cavity of the eye
  • Vitreous
    • Separation natural degeneration of the vitreous gel
  • Vitrectomy
    • Surgical procedure to remove the vitreous gel
  • Wet ARMD
    • Leaking abnormal blood vessels in the macula



COVID 19 PRECAUTIONS

As of Dec 28, 2020, RSN has implemented additional COVID Precautions due to the winter surge and new more contagious variants.

These include enhanced Telehealth, reduced number of in-person visits, extended visit intervals, enhanced sterilization and air purification protocols.

These unnoticed safety updates will remain in effect until the public health risk is sufficiently reduced.

If you are or have been ill with fever, cold or flu-like symptoms, dry cough, or traveled out-of-state within the past 2 weeks, please post-pone your appointment and proceed with COVID-19 testing.

Dr. Myers-Powell and the RSN staff are committed to saving vision while protecting the community; we encourage everyone to join us in taking simple measures to ensure a healthy new year.

Thank you for your cooperation and do not hesitate to contact our office for clarification.