Sensory Terminology

In this lesson we’re going to talk about medical terms that deal with the sensory system.

When we start with the eye, we have to look at the anatomy of the eye and also Vision. When you start with the anatomy of the eye, begin at the front. The front clear part is called the cornea and we refer to this as corneo or kerato.  Behind the eye is the colored part of the eye called the iris. We Refer to this as irido, and the ciliary bodies that produce all of the fluid in the front part of the eye we refer to this as ciclo. The hole in the eye that the Iris makes is called the people, and we refer to this as pupillo. And then in the back part of the eye is the sclera, choroid, and retina. We were referred to the sclera as sclero, the retina as retino, and the choroid as choroido.

Now when we’re dealing with the eye or Vision, we want to use these medical term. With the eye we say oculo or ophthalmo,  and with vision we say opto or optico. but sometimes we have to use suffixes, so we will use the suffixes-opia or -opsia.  Let’s look at the medical term for double, which is Diplo. If we added Diplo, to the suffix -opia, we would get diplopia, which means double vision.It would be simpler to presbyopia, which means vision changes that are caused by old age. Also take a look at some of these other terms that you become familiar with them.

So as you move on to the ears we also want to focus on the idea of hearing. Starting with the anatomy, we’ll start at the outside of the ear with the pinna. This is often referred to as auriculo,  and the tympanic membrane or the eardrum is either referred to as myringo, or tympano. Anytime you dealing with any part of the ossicles, so these are the bones inside the ear like the Incas, the malleus, or the stapes, you use the term ossiculo,  but there’s also another term specifically to the stapes or the Stirrup and that’s stapedo. Are you always when I remember this idea of contacts, because the eustachian tube is referred to with the term salpingo, But don’t forget that the Fallopian tubes are also referred to as salpingo, so you always want to make sure that you have some sort of context when you’re discussing these medical terms.

How would we talk about the hearing, the ears refer to as auro or oto,  and hearing is referred to as acousto or audio. Now if you’re going to use “hearing” as a suffix, you’ll use the term -acusis or -cusis, for example, presbycusis. Presby refers to “old age” and -cusis is hearing, so this is diminished hearing that’s a result of old age. Another term that you may run across is -otia, such as macrotia or microtia. Otia refers to an ear condition, so macrotia are abnormally large ears, and microtia is a condition with abnormally small ears. Both of these are congenital anomalies.

Just like we do with all of our medical terminology lessons, I want to cover some of the most common types of medical terms that you may see with the eye or ear. So anytime you’re dealing with aqueous solution, so the solution is actually in the front portion of the eye you’ll to use the term aqueo but if we’re talking about the conjunctiva or the mucous membrane of the eye, you’ll use conjunctivo. So for instance conjunctivitis is the inflammation of the conjunctiva tissue. When talking about the eye you can use the terms oculo or ophthalmo,  and for hearing you use audio or audito. Another term that you may run across at some point for the ear is cochlea which you use the term cochleo, and don’t forget any time you’re using a suffix to discuss the process of hearing, You’ll Use the term -acusis or -cusis.

Okay so let’s recap. Anytime we’re dealing with the eye, the medical terms are going to focus on the anatomy of the eye or vision, and if they’re dealing with the ear it’ll focus on the anatomy of the ear or hearing. Again some of these terms are really tough to remember, so make sure that you’re practicing them to get them down.

And that’s it for sensory medical terminology. Make sure you check out all the resources attached to this lesson. Now, go out and be your best self today, and as always happy nursing!