Sight is one of our most important senses in everyday life. Restrictions in vision, which naturally occur with age, significantly impair quality of life and health. Eye diseases can have many causes. It is not always signs of ageing that rob us of our sight. Diabetes, high blood pressure or congenital factors can also be to blame. This is why it is so important to have your eyes checked regularly by an ophthalmologist (ophthalmology specialist).
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Article overview
General ophthalmology - Further information
What is ophthalmology?
Ophthalmology is the study of the eyes and the sense of sight and their treatment. Vision is a complicated process. Parts of the cranium and brain are actively involved.
These areas are therefore part of the eye specialist's field of activity:
- Eyelid
- eye socket
- eyeball
- Optic nerve
- Visual cortex in the brain
Ophthalmology interfaces with dermatologists and neurologists due to the anatomical location of the sense of sight and the eyes .
Which eye diseases do ophthalmology specialists treat?
Ophthalmologists mainly deal with:
- defective vision (long-sightedness, short-sightedness)
- Glaucoma
- Cataracts (cataracts)
- Retinal diseases (macular degeneration, retinal detachment), corneal diseases (e.g. keratoconus) and vitreous diseases

Acute glaucoma is particularly dangerous. This leads to a blockage of the aqueous humor in the eyeball, causing the intraocular pressure to rise sharply.
The result issevere pain and the risk of blindness. Acute glaucoma is an emergency in ophthalmology. An eye specialist must therefore treat it immediately.
What diagnostic procedures do eye specialists use?
The following diagnostic procedures and standards are widely used:
- Measurement of intraocular pressure (tonometry)
- Examination of the field of vision (perimetry)
- Examination for optical defects (refractometry)
- Mirroring of the fundus of the eye (ophthalmoscopy)
- Vascular imaging of the retinal vessels (fluorescein angiography)
- Corneal topography (keratometry)

Health insurance companies do not cover the costs of all measures, although these are usually important preventive examinations. An eye specialist can give you more details about this in a personal consultation.
What does the range of services offered by eye specialists look like?
Of course, ophthalmology is not limited to the mere diagnosis of eye diseases. Nowadays, doctors can straighten the cornea and replace a lens that has become cloudy.
Surgery also has a wide field of activity in ophthalmology and offers numerous operations on the eyes as standard.
Eye clinics have the highest density of eye surgery specialists.
The following procedures are routinely performed there:
- Corneal transplants (keratoplasty)
- Vitreous and retinal surgery or
- Refractive surgery
Refractive surgery includes all surgical methods that can correct the refractive power of the eye and therefore visual acuity. Glasses or contact lenses become superfluous. Correction using laser surgery ( LASIK for short) has become particularly well known in this field.
What qualifications do ophthalmology specialists have?
Anyone wishing to gain a foothold in ophthalmology in Germany must complete 5 years of further training to become a specialist in ophthalmology.
In addition, the future eye specialist must have sufficient practical knowledge of surgical techniques. The doctor therefore completes a 2-year practical phase during the specialist training to become an eye specialist.
Medical spectrum
Therapies
- Cataract surgery
- Cornea surgery
- Endoscopic tear duct surgery
- Eye muscle surgery
- Glaucoma surgery
- Iridectomy
- Laser coagulation of the retina
- Laser Peripheral Iridotomy
- Phacoemulsification
- Retina rotation
- Strabismus surgery
- Surgery to the retina
- Tear duct surgery
- Toti surgery
- Trabeculectomy
- Vitrectomy
Diseases
- Allergic conjunctivitis
- Blepharitis
- Blepharochalasis
- Cancer of the eye
- Cataract
- Chalazion / sty
- Choroidal diseases
- Conjunctival inflammation
- Corneal conditions
- Defective vision
- Diabetic retinopathy
- Diseases of the eye lens
- Diseases of the iris
- Diseases of the ocular appendages
- Epiretinal gliosis
- Farsightedness
- Glaucoma
- Inflammation of the eye
- Macular degeneration
- Myopia
- Nystagmus
- Optic nerve disorders
- Presbyopia
- Protrusion of the cornea (keratoconus)
- Pterygium conjunctiva
- Retinal Detachment
- Retinal diseases
- Scleral diseases
- Strabismus
- Vitreous body detachment
- Vitreous body disorder
- Vitreous body opacification