Optometry is a healthcare profession that involves the examination, diagnosis, and treatment of visual disorders and diseases of the eye. Optometrists are trained to perform comprehensive eye exams, prescribe eyeglasses and contact lenses, and diagnose and treat various eye conditions such as glaucoma, cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration. Optometry is a rapidly evolving field, and optometrists play a critical role in helping people maintain good eye health and vision.
Optometry is an important and fascinating field, with a rich history and a wide range of knowledge and skills required. From the anatomy and physiology of the eye to the latest advances in technology and treatment, optometry offers a wealth of information to learn and explore. Whether you're an optometrist, a student, or just someone interested in eye health, optometry trivia is a great way to test your knowledge and learn something new.
Here are some examples of optometry trivia questions: What is the difference between an optometrist and an ophthalmologist? What is the structure of the retina responsible for sharp vision? What is the most common cause of presbyopia? What is the difference between farsightedness and nearsightedness? These questions and others like them provide a glimpse into the world of optometry and the fascinating science and art of maintaining good eye health and vision.
126 Optometry Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)
- Also known as a refractor, what is the P-word for the ophthalmic testing device with many different lenses used in succession for testing a patient's eyesight?
Answer: Phoropter
- Phacoemulsification is a technique used to surgically remove which common eye condition that causes the lens of the eye to look cloudy?
Answer: Cataracts
- There are non-image-forming ganglion cells in the human eye (and other mammals) that are still photosensitive and receive light signals that can help regulate and suppress the production of what "M" hormone that helps regulate the sleep-wake schedule?
Answer: Melatonin
- First performed by ophthalmologist Dr. Marguerite McDonald in 1988, what acronymic surgical procedure is also referred by its lesser-known lengthier term, laser in-situ keratomileusis?
Answer: LASIK
- The human retina contains receptor cells of two different types: rods and what tapered shapes?
Answer: Cones
- What “K” optical condition occurs when the cornea thins and bulges outward from the eye, resulting in blurred vision and potential light sensitivity?
Answer: Keratoconus
- Which term describes the fast, uncontrollable side-to-side, up-down, or in-a-circle movement of the eyeball?
Answer: Nystagmus
- Ametropia is any refractive condition that does not allow for an image to be properly focused on what structure of the eye?
Answer: Retina
- Bacterial, protozoal, and xerophthalmia are three types of what nine-letter “K” condition that involves the inflammation of the cornea?
Answer: Keratitis
- In ophthalmology, DME is a common abbreviation for macular edema, or fluid accumulation in the eye, caused by what underlying medical condition?
Answer: Diabetes
- The logMAR chart has kind of outpaced what visual acuity chart named for a Dutch ophthalmologist?
Answer: Snellen chart
- Amblyopia is more commonly known as what languishing two-word term that is described as “reduced vision in one eye caused by abnormal visual development early in life” by the Mayo Clinic?
Answer: Lazy eye
- If a tear duct gets blocked, what’s the name for the slow-growing lump that can form on the eye? (Hint: While it can be tender, it’s not an infection like a stye)
Answer: Chalazion
- A possible eye-related side effect of amiodarone is deposits of golden-brown pigment (verticillate) in which part of the eye?
Answer: Cornea
- What American Founding Father created the first bifocals? He took his glasses for viewing distant objects and his glasses for viewing nearby objects, cut the lenses in half horizontally, then mixed them.
Answer: Benjamin Franklin
- What is the medical term for a condition in which a person’s eyelashes are growing in the wrong direction (in rather than out), often causing discomfort and even damage to the eye?
Answer: Trichiasis
- Sold under the brand name Xalatan, which eye drops drug can be used to treat high pressure in the eye—especially in patients with ocular hypertension or open-angle glaucoma?
Answer: Latanoprost
- The pigmentary type of which eye disease that can lead to blindness happens when pigment parts break off from the iris and get trapped in the eye’s drainage system? (Hint: It’s usually a subvariation of the “open-angle” form of the diagnosis)
Answer: Glaucoma
- What “C” word is the mucous membrane that covers the front of the eye and the inside of the eyelids?
Answer: Conjunctiva
- What term means the vascular membrane containing large branched pigmented cells that lies between the retina and the sclera of the eye in vertebrate animals?
Answer: Choroid
- The average person’s retina has approximately 4 million to 6 million cones, whose cells are able to specifically sense three types of colors: red, blue, and what third color?
Answer: Green
- Which eyewear startup founded in 2010 began with an online-only business model and promised to donate one pair of glasses for every pair purchased?
Answer: Warby Parker
- The glaucoma-seekin' test to measure intraocular pressure is commonly known by what breezy P-word that it shares with the name of a certain resident of Honah Lee?
Answer: Puff
- Optical lens making with a natural stone called Diyatarippu was common practice during the 1400s in what teardrop-shaped Indian Ocean country?
Answer: Sri Lanka
- Amblyopia, a sight disorder where the brain fails to process inputs from one eye and favors the other, is better known as what?
Answer: Lazy Eye
- What “M” word is an alternate word, derived from the Greek, for nearsightedness? It has become an adjective meaning lacking imagination.
Answer: Myopia
- In the anatomy of the eye, what is the name of the small depression in the retina, where one's field of vision is centered?
Answer: Fovea
- On an eyeglass prescription form the initialism "O.D." stands for "oculus dexter," meaning what kind of eye?
Answer: Right
- Orthokeratology uses specially designed contact lenses to temporarily reshape what eye part?
Answer: Cornea
- What “T” device is used by eye care professionals to measure the intraocular pressure of the human eye, to test against the presence of issues such as glaucoma?
Answer: Tonometer
- Central, high-resolution, color vision in humans is thanks to an oval-shaped, pigmented area of the retina known by what M-word name that sounds like a vampire that loves Quarter Pounders?
Answer: Macula
- What “M” 17th century Anglo-Irish writer and scientist, friend of John Locke and proposer of his namesake “problem”, wrote a book about optics and lenses in 1692? His book mentioned myopia and issues with close-up vision.
Answer: William Molyneux
- A person with heterochromia has eyes of two different what?
Answer: Color
- There are two kinds of photoreceptors in the human retina, each responsible for vision at different intensities of light. Name both of them.
Answer: Rods, cones
- What “H” vision condition is a refractive error that causes objects up close blurry? It is a common condition among people who call themselves farsighted.
Answer: Hyperopia
- What “P” eye condition is when the eye muscles become less elastic and more rigid, resulting in difficult reading smaller print up close? It is a condition often treated in older patients with bifocals.
Answer: Presbyopia
- What “M” type of degeneration in the eye, occurring most often in aging patients, is blurry and reduced vision caused by a thinning of a membrane in the back of the retina?
Answer: Macular Degeneration
- A couple of German immigrants started a monocle business in Rochester, New York: those are the humble-ish beginnings of what contact lense-makin' juggernaut?
Answer: Bausch + Lomb
- What “C” optical condition, a redness and swelling of the tissue lining the eyelids and white parts of the eyes, is often referred to as “pink eye?”
Answer: Conjunctivitis
- What “R” eye condition, often caused by diabetes, occurs when tiny blood vessels inside the light sensitive cells at the back of the eye hemorrhage, and can often lead to blindness?
Answer: Retinopathy
- What small “F” objects, which people observe in their eyes as they age, are caused by clumping of the eye’s vitreous, creating shadows on the retina? As a result, these tiny drifting particles appear to be buoyantly crossing your eye.
Answer: Floaters
- No joke analogy: vitreous is to the lens and retina, as WHAT is to the space between the cornea and the lens?
Answer: Aqueous
- An optometrist might use what device to shine a light into a patient's eye and determine the degree of refractive error?
Answer: Retinoscope
- What comedian, also known for being the wife and comedy partner to George Burns, was born with heterochromia? The condition reportedly made her self-conscious about the transition from black-and-white to color television.
Answer: Gracie Allen
- Achromatopsia, an inherited condition that can lower sharpness of vision, or cause colorblindness, is caused by lack of receptors on what portion of the eye?
Answer: Retina
- The medical term for the left eye is O.S., with the “S” standing for what word, also a word meaning giving the impression that something harmful or evil is happening?
Answer: Oculus Sinister
- Fill in the punny blank in this classic dad joke: An optometrist fell into a glass grinder and made a WHAT of himself?
Answer: Spectacle
- Which part of the eye is named after the Greek goddess of the rainbow? An alternative medicine technique developed by Ignaz von Peczely involves determining a patient’s health based on characteristics of this part of the eye.
Answer: Iris
- What “A” term refers to an eye rotation away from the midline? Not to be confused with subduction.
Answer: Abduction
- Some eye conditions require the use of ablation, surgical removal of tissue often performed using what “L” beam of stimulated photons?
Answer: Laser
- Fill in the "WHAT"s on this optometry joke: How do you take over the globe? With a WHAT WHAT.
Answer: Contact lens
- Which type of eye chart used for testing near visual acuity has a name meaning “hunter” in German?
Answer: Jaeger
- If you don’t eat enough fish, dairy, and carrots, you might not be able to see well in the dark. Which vitamin deficiency leads to night blindness?
Answer: Vitamin A
- Which vision disorder of depth perception occurs because the two images from each eye cannot be combined to produce 3D vision?
Answer: Stereoblindness
- If a patient has epiphora, there is either a blockage in the lacrimal duct causing overflow or the overproduction of what?
Answer: Tears
- What is the more common term for nyctalopia or, not being able to see well in low or dim light?
Answer: Night Blindness
- Blepharoconjunctivitis is a really long word that means which part of the eye is inflamed?
Answer: Conjunctiva
- The Snellen Chart (the lettered chart used for measuring visual acuity) is named after Herman Snellen, an optometrist born in the city of Utrecht in what European country?
Answer: The Netherlands
- What’s the name of the black-and-white lined chart that can be used to check for visual distortion caused by macular damage?
Answer: Amsler Grid
- A person who has been infected with the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum is at risk for which eye disease that can cause vision loss?
Answer: Ocular histoplasmosis syndrome
- A patient with a “macular pucker” has a scar over the macula of their eye. The condition is also called ERM, which stands for what?
Answer: Epiretinal membrane
- Campimetry is the systematic measurement of visual field function. What word, which comes from the Greek words for "around" and "measure", is another name for campimetry?
Answer: Perimetry
- What type of lamp is actually a microscope with a powerful light that can be used to look inside the eyeball?
Answer: Slit
- Which term is used to describe an infant born with one or both eyes being abnormally small?
Answer: Microphthalmia
- Which R-term refers to disease or damage to the small vessels of the thin layer of tissue that lines the back of the eye? (Hint: It’s common in people with diabetes).
Answer: Retinopathy
- Humphrey and Goldmann are examples of which type of test that can show how much of an area a patient can see and how well they can see different parts of it? (Hint: It's also called perimetry).
Answer: Visual Field
- Which ophthalmic instrument is used to verify that a prescription in a pair of glasses or contacts is right for a patient by measuring its diopter power? (Hint: It’s also called a vertometer)
Answer: Lensmeter
- Open-angle and closed-angle are two terms that describe which group of eye diseases that damage the optic nerve?
Answer: Glaucoma
- The World Council of Optometry (WCO) is a membership organization and the only optometric organization to have official relations with the World Health Organization. If you were to "meet me in" the U.S. city where the WCO is headquartered, what city would we be in?
Answer: St. Louis
- Often a result of astigmatism, the condition commonly known as a lazy eye is more formally known in medicine by what term, from the Ancient Greek for “blunted sight?”
Answer: Amblyopia
- Which part of the eye is located behind the sclera and contains the iris, ciliary body, and choroid?
Answer: Uvea
- Which type of error refers to how the shape of the eye affects its ability to bend light and causes blurry vision?
Answer: Refractive
- A patient’s baseline prescription can be established by using which instrument controlled by a computer that measures refractive error?
Answer: Optometer
- Which tool is used to assess astigmatism by measuring the curvature of the front of the cornea?
Answer: Keratometer
- Which eye condition that can be caused by a skin condition with seborrhea or staph infections is sometimes called “eye dandruff?”
Answer: Blepharitis
- The retina, optic disc, macular, fovea, and posterior pole are contained within which interior structure of the eye?
Answer: Fundus
- What’s the spacey name for the bony structure that the eyeball sits in? (Hint: It's sometimes referred to as a socket)
Answer: Orbit
- Sold under the brand names Sandimmune and Neoral, which topical antibiotic is commonly used to treat dry eye by increasing tear production?
Answer: Cyclosporine
- How many U.S. Presidents wore glasses in their official portraits?
Answer: Three
- Keratoconus occurs when which part of the eye that is normally round becomes abnormally thin and cone-shaped and distorts vision?
Answer: Cornea
- In 1888, what did Adolph Fick invent that let people see more clearly without having to wear glasses? (Though they're made of flexible plastic today, Fick's originals were made of very thin glass—so no wonder they could only be worn a few hours before becoming too irritating)
Answer: Contact Lenses
- What is the medical term for misaligned eyes, known colloquially known as "crossed eyes?" Babies who have the condition usually outgrow it by three months of age.
Answer: Strabismus
- In addition to nutrients, what important life-sustaining element is delivered to the retina through the layer of blood vessels called the choroid?
Answer: Oxygen
- Often performed during a glaucoma work up, what is the visual examination of the anterior chamber angle, which occurs through a special type of contact lens?
Answer: Gonioscopy
- What is the name of the device that can identify common and more obscure vision errors by measuring the way light waves travel through the eye's optical system?
Answer: Aberrometer
- An optometrist is Biggleswade UK offered free eyetests in May 2023 to people with what first name? It had to do with a significant event which occurred on June 2nd, 2023.
Answer: Charles
- In 1851, Hermann von Helmholtz became the first doctor to see the interior of the human eye when he invented which apparatus?
Answer: Ophthalmoscope
- What word beginning with S is an area of partial or complete loss of vision surrounded by a normal field of vision?
Answer: Scotoma
- “Blind spot” is the common name for what medical term that refers to the place where the retina attaches to the optic nerve, and there are no light-sensitive cells?
Answer: Scotoma
- What is the term for the small glands in the eyelids which are responsible for secreting oil that covers and protects the surface of the eye?
Answer: Meibomian Glands
- The first eyeglasses are estimated to have been created in what Italian city in the late 13th century?
Answer: Pisa
- What term is given to a line connecting a series of points in a visual field at which a person is able to detect a certain size and intensity of light?
Answer: Isopter
- Tritanopia is a form of color-blindness inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion, with loss in what color receptor?
Answer: Blue
- What term is given to the ocular condition in which the lens of the eye is absent, or has been surgically removed?
Answer: Aphakia
- During the ‘90s and 2000s, monotoned television personality and former U.S. presidential speechwriter Ben Stein was better known for advertising what brand of eye drops?
Answer: Clear Eyes
- “IOL” is short for describing what type of lens that “replaces the eye’s natural lens that is removed during cataract surgery,” according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology?
Answer: Intraocular
- The superior rectus muscle is at the top of the eye and helps it look in which direction? (Hint: The 2021 Jennifer Lawrence/Leonardo DiCaprio flick would advise you otherwise…)
Answer: Up
- What term beginning with A refers to theaccessory structures of the eye, including the eyelids, lacrimal apparatus, etc?
Answer: Adnexa
- What term beginning with E is for when an eye which gives perfect vision so that no glasses are required and occurs when light from an object at infinity is sharply focused on the retina?
Answer: Emmetropia
- What term is given to a drug or medication that causes dilation of the pupil?
Answer: Mydriatic
- "Cross-eyed" is a term often applied to individuals (usually children but sometimes adults) with what condition?
Answer: Strabismus
- What is the name for a genetic condition by which a baby is born with tissue missing from an area of the eye, such as the iris?
Answer: Coloboma
- What’s the more common way to say someone has hyperopia, a condition where you can things farther away a lot better than stuff that’s up close?
Answer: Farsighted
- What is the Latin "C" word that is used in English to refer to either an eyelash (when speaking anatomically) or an organelle on eukaryotic cells that projects from a much larger cell body (when speaking microbiologically)?
Answer: Cilium
- When working on the film "How I Won the War" in 1966, a certain celebrity was given a pair of round, "granny-style" glasses for the role. These spectacles became a key part of this individual's look and helped popularize the style of the glasses around Great Britain and more of the world. Who was this man?
Answer: John Lennon
- Balls covered in letters used to help strabismus, hand-eye coordination, TBI, and other maladies are known by what M-word that happens to be the surname of the dude who played Cyclops in "X-Men"?
Answer: Marsden
- Although more well-known for his fiction and character creations, what famous author was also an ophthalmologist? He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh in the 1870s, was a determined supporter of compulsory vaccination, and partially based his most famous character on a former university teacher.
Answer: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- What is the "S" name for the speedy, synchronized movements of both eyes towards the same direction that is controlled by the brain's frontal lobe?
Answer: Saccades
- What gland above the eye releases fluid that cleanses and protects the eye’s surface as it moistens? The fluid is commonly referred to as tears.
Answer: Lacrimal gland
- Starting his career in 1934 and working in optometry practice and academia until his death in 2013, who is regarded as the “father of modern optometry”?
Answer: Dr Irvin Borish
- Known for his impressionist paintings of water lilies and haystacks among other things, which French artist had cataracts that some believe affected his art?
Answer: Claude Monet
- What medical suffix follows “hetero” to describe “latent squint” in which the eyes can be out of alignment due to imbalances in the muscles?
Answer: Phoria
- What condition can occur when a person rapidly has a deterioration in their vision, causing visual hallucinations? These hallucinations can take many forms including simple patterns and shapes, but also can include seeing people, monsters and places.
Answer: Charles Bonnet Syndrome
- What English philosopher, also known as Doctor Mirabilis, wrote in 1263 in his book “Opus Majus” that lenses could be used to affect the human eye? His last name is the same as part of a hearty American breakfast.
Answer: Roger Bacon
- Which type of eye movement is very rapid and helps the eye quickly shift the focus of its gaze (for example, while reading)? (Hint: The term comes for an old French phrase that meant a horseman was yanking on the reins)
Answer: Saccades
- A possible eye-related side effect of amiodarone is deposits of golden-brown pigment (verticillate) in which part of the eye?
Answer: Cornea
- A visit to the optometrist might be quite the ordeal for someone who suffers with what word defining the fear of eyes?
Answer: Ommatophobia
- The “pinhole” version of which tool restricts light to the center of the eye’s lens to prevent refractive errors and help assess whether someone needs glasses?
Answer: Occluder
- In May 2009, a company co-founder of e-commerce prescription glasses retailer Warby Parker discovered a Jack Kerouac exhibit featuring the characters Warby Pepper and Zagg Parker, which led to the naming of his new startup. In what New York institution was this founder wandering?
Answer: Public Library
- Tending to appear when a person is tired, what P-word means the loss of binocular vision because the two eyes are no longer focusing on the same object?
Answer: Phoria
- Copepods are small marine crustaceans found in nearly every saltwater and freshwater environment. Somewhat uniquely, these organisms have three of what part of the eye?
Answer: Lens
- What medical term for the center of the retina is Latin for "spot" and is actually a shorter version of the full Latin phrase for "yellow spot?"
Answer: Macula
- The history of the first pair of eyeglasses is generally inconclusive, but some of the oldest optical lens-making tradition occurred in what South Asian nation in which King Bhuvanekabahu the IV (AD 1346 - 1353) had craftsmen with royal patronage creating eyeglasses with a special natural stone?
Answer: Sri Lanka
- What is the two-word name for the anatomical feature at the base of the brain's hypothalamus where the optic nerves of both eyes meet and cross? We'll give you a hint: The first word is "optic."
Answer: Optic chiasm
- Alpha, beta, and gamma are the three main types of what water-soluble protein structures in the eyes?
Answer: Crystallins
- Under the supervision of Dr. Alan Isen in a television studio, who was the first U.S. President to appear in public wearing contact lenses? This occurred during the decade when contact lenses first had mass appeal, thanks to improved manufacturing technology.
Answer: Lyndon Johnson
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About the Author
Eli Robinson is the Chief Trivia Officer at Water Cooler Trivia. He was once in a Bruce Springsteen cover band called F Street Band.
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