Course Descriptions Courses are numbered in the following series: • 100 series for first professional year students; • 300 for third professional year students; and • 200 for second professional year students; • 400 for fourth professional year students. The four-year program provides more than 5,000 clock hours of instruction in the sciences and clinical optometry and carries a minimum of 193 semester hours of credit. The curriculum listed below is categorized by professional year. Course prerequisites are noted and can only be waived by the instructor of record and the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
1st Year OPT 110
Optometric Theory & Methods I (6 semester hrs) Four hours of lecture and four hours of laboratory per week. Introduction to optometric theory and examination. Strategy of the examination and sequencing of the various tests and procedures. Medical record notation. Primary emphasis on chair skills to include visual acuity, stereopsis, color vision, Amsler grid, extraocular muscles, cover test, accommodation, convergence, confrontation fields and pupillary reflexes. Instruction in objective retinoscopy techniques, subjective manifest refraction techniques, phorometry and keratometry. Lectures emphasizing the theory of these procedures, interpretation of their results to arrive at a preliminary diagnosis and laboratories emphasizing clinical techniques.
OPT 111
Optics of the Eye I (5 semester hrs) Four hours of lecture and two hours of laboratory per week. Emphasis on geometrical and visual optics. Vergence of light, refracting and reflecting surfaces, thin and thick lenses, prisms and mirrors. Induced prism and Prentice’s rule. Spherical and astigmatic refractive error and its correction. Schematic eye models. Overview of clinical instruments including the keratometer and corneal topographer.
OPT 112
Anatomy, Histology and Physiology I (4.5 semester hrs) Three hours of lecture and three hours of laboratory per week. Introduction to physiology with an emphasis on cellular physiology. Microscopic structure of human tissues and organs with functions of cellular organelles, membrane transport, synaptic transmission and properties of muscle and nerve cells. Histogenesis of selected tissues. Gross structure of the human body with emphasis on the head, neck, thorax, abdomen and visceral organs. Laboratory includes gross anatomy and physiology of head, neck, thorax and abdomen; microscopic anatomy of ocular structures, orbit, adnexa and visual pathways; gross anatomy of the brain, cranial nerves and spinal cord.
OPT 113
Neuroanatomy (2 semester hrs) Two hours of lecture per week. Function and structure of the human central nervous system. Emphasis placed on the functional neuroanatomy of sensory, motor and autonomic systems. Testing and imaging modalities of the central nervous system. Practical applications of neuroanatomical knowledge that are essential in clinical practice. Detection of neurological disorders presenting in the clinical setting with emphasis on generation of differential diagnosis and problem solving.
OPT 114
Ocular Anatomy and Physiology (4 semester hrs) Four hours of lecture per week. Gross and microscopic structure of orbit, ocular adnexa, cornea, sclera, uvea, lens, anterior and posterior chambers, vitreous, retina and optic nerve. Physiology of ocular homeostasis and
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function of the eye to include function of the orbit and eyelids, tear production and drainage, and corneal physiology, transparency and wound healing. Physiology of the crystalline lens, vitreous, choroid, retina and uvea. Aqueous humor formation, circulation and drainage.
OPT 116
Biochemistry (1.5 semester hrs) One and one-half hours of lecture per week. Basic principles of biosynthesis and bioenergetics of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins as well as biological functions of these macromolecules. Biochemical mechanisms of molecular biology including gene expression and regulation and the clinical application of genomics. Basic principles of human nutrition. Appropriate clinical correlations to ocular disease throughout the course.
OPT 120
Optometric Theory & Methods II (5 semester hrs) Three hours of lecture and four hours of laboratory per week. Continuation of OPT 110 with emphasis on case history and the etiology, diagnosis and management of refractive errors and convergence anomalies. Theoretical basis of the various tests used to diagnose refractive errors. Presentation of problem-oriented medical record keeping as well as formulation of diagnosis and treatment plans. Evaluation of accommodative and convergence relationships and their influence on retinoscopy and monocular and binocular subjective refractive results, as well as alternate examination techniques and the formulation of a diagnosis and treatment plan are emphasized in laboratory. Prerequisites: OPT 110
OPT 121
Optics of the Eye II (5 semester hrs) Four hours of lecture and two hours of laboratory per week. Emphasis on visual and physical optics. Optics of objective and subjective refraction. Ophthalmoscopy. Magnification and retinal image size. Optical aspects of accommodation and presbyopia. Effects of apertures and aberrations on optical systems. Optics of low vision devices. Topics in physical optics to include interference, diffraction, polarization, lasers and photometry. Entopic phenomena. Role of the pupil as it affects depth of field, aberrations and accommodation. Myopia progression as it relates to above topics.. Prerequisites: OPT 111
OPT 122
Anatomy, Histology and Physiology II (4.5 semester hrs) Four and one-half hours of lecture per week. Integrated physiology of the major organ systems to include the circulatory, respiratory, renal, digestive, nervous, endocrine and reproductive systems. Embryological development of these structures. Prerequisites: OPT 112
OPT 125
Ocular Motility (1.5 semester hrs) One and one-half hours of lecture per week. Innervation, kinematics and actions of the extraocular muscles. Types of eye movements and their
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