About orthoptists

Orthoptics is one of the Allied Health Professions, and orthoptists are key members of the eye care team. They assess and manage a range of eye problems, mainly those affecting the way the eyes move (such as squint and lazy eye). This might involve prescribing eye exercises or referring the patient for special spectacle lenses or for eye surgery. They use special equipment to measure the pressure inside the eye, to assess the patient's field of vision and to carry out other testing procedures.

In some clinics, orthoptists work with ophthalmologists in helping to manage conditions such as glaucoma. Orthoptists are recognised as experts in childhood vision screening, and have a lead role in the primary screening of children aged four to five years.

The majority of orthoptists in the UK are employed in the NHS.

To see some orthoptics stories that have appeared in the news recently, visit our Orthoptics in the news page.

About vision strategy in the UK

This document from the Vision 2020 programme tells you what you should expect from eye care and sight loss services in the UK:

BIOS UK Vision Strategy (PDF 200KB)

General information

NHS websites are a great source of information and offer the  opportunity to search on your eye health issue of interest.
For example: here's the link for Lazy Eye from NHS Choices:
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/lazy-eye/pages/treatment.aspx