The College of Optometrists

Hello there,

i was wondering if it would be possible for some of the examiners, optoms or students who post of this site to possibly post a list of good recommended books for students on main subject areas.

many thanks

The best bet is to phone our wonderful librarian and ask her. That way you will gain access to the books you need without the cost of purchasing them. (you can borrow them for a month, renewable at no cost bar the return postage). There is loads of information and pictures of ocular conditions on the internet and I will post some web sites for you to use. These are all free of charge to use. Kanski is essential. The cheapest way to buy books is second hand on Amazon - but I am really not sure myself about buying expensive books without carefully checking them first. I have bought many books that were simply not worth the money! Ask library to help! steve

Some of the books I would recommend are: Clinical Procedures in Primary care -Elliott Clinical procedures in optometry - Eskridge, Amos and Bartlett (may be out of print) Optometry - Edwards, Llewellyn (out of print) Law in Optometric Practice - Taylor, Austen Work and the eye - North AOP Red Book Optometric managament of visual handicap -Farrell (may be out of print)

Contact lenses -Philips, Speedwell The Contact lens manual - Gasson and Morris Complications of contact lens wear - Tomlinson (may be out of print)

and many more...

Some of these are out of print and some stuff will inevitably be out of date but there is still some excellent information in the above. I'd also recommend checking the Department of Health, College, GOC and AOP websites for up to date legal stuff.

I'll add more when I think of them

That was very helpful indeed apart from the fact that (may be out of print)ill seek them hopefully.

any other good book on general ophthalmology other than kanski but similar to it.

ps amazon is awesome just too many books to search through and also another question some of the books are USA orientated will they benefit us here or what are your recommendations

thanks

Hi again,

Here is some free resouces to use. I would ask the College Librarian if she has an alternative to Kanski. There are others but I am not sure if they are as good. Books are expencive - so try to try before you buy. I have seen Kanski on EBay going cheap before now. Always worth a look. Yup, Amazon is daunting - but if you do a search on optometry ...

http://dro.hs.columbia.edu/index.htm is an ophthalmology picture book

http://webeye.ophth.uiowa.edu/eyeforum/cases.htm is similar but has essays to accompany the pictures.

http://www.revoptom.com/handbook/hbhome.htm is a very large collection of essays detailing how to manage optometric / ocular conditions, a well reccommended site.

http://www.opt.indiana.edu/Riley/rileyshome.html =great for brushing up on basic skills and how to use different instruments.

http://www.mrcophth.com/chua1.html is great for ophthalmological subjects and also a moving model showing how the ocular muscles work to move the eyes about.

http://www.optometry.co.uk/pages/articles.php gives essays on many optical subjects

http://www.academy.org.uk/ for general help and advice, a great pharmacopia and basic skills (for example a demonstrator of Volk lens

and also a gonio.

http://www.elsevier-international.com/optometry/chapters.cfm is free

samples in pdf format of various optometric texts.

College has started a book swap - email our librarian for what you have and what you want: mailto:jan.ayres@college-optometrists.org

College also will give you a great discount on any new books you fancy.

http://www.emedicine.com/oph/ is a great free site authoritative on diseases, including ocular disease.

http://www.medrounds.org/bookstore/Products.php?category_id=4 is a free site for broadbanders giving video's on ocular topics. Needs regitration.

Clinical Procedures in Primary Eye care, David B. Elliott is an important book to read.

I will keep looking for you. I personally use Manual of Ocular Diagnosis and Therapy by Deborah Pavan-Langston - but is very poor on pictures. This does not bother me 'cos there is so many pictures of common and rare ocular conditions on the internet to browse. As you can see from what I write here - I often learn about ocular conditions by looking at various internet sites. The snag with many books on ophthalmology is the quality of the pictures - and this is where the internet does score. Also, many books show you pictures of ocular disease when they have fully developed - yet 'cos we see things early on, its important to know what things look like THEN. Just my view.

I will look for more sites, hope it helps - steve Do you have any worth knowing about - you can post them here.

excellent thats more than helpful, i will use them.

my reason for asking for, or about a book similar to kanski was because as part of the PRP we are required to know about many ocular conditions in general and in specific about others like ARMD, Cataracts, Glau, DM and others. I thought it would be pointless buying a book on each particular subject area mainly due to the expense. Hence the need for another book/s similar to kanski.

thanks again for your help.

Obviously you think the same way I do... Optometry Today do quite nice books on each of those topics. They are quite a handy reference (abt £28 each) - but I would simply borrow them from the library and read them up. Upto date material is available on the sites I suggested, then I compare what different people say about the condition, so I go round the topic. The best overall one is emedicine,com (for a low fee you can enlarge their pictures on each condition). I am all for saving money on books when you can :-).

There is a very interesting internet site where experienced optoms chat -it is an American site: http://www.odwire.org = it is free to sign up for and then you can browse through and learn all kind of tips and ideas. I think its a cool way of learning.

There is some stuff you simply got to know - like when to refer for Glaucoma assessment, for example. It is in Kanski, but you can use than as a jumping off point to deepen yr knowledge.

I will keep looking for you, on the topics you mentioned. If you look up topics in yr browser looking for pictures - you will be surprised! There is loads - I bet you are alot more computer literate than I!

What do you think of the vocab stuff? I have prepared a couple more - are they of value? =steve

entry to the emedicine.com library of artical is free. You only pay a nominal fee to be able to use the microscope feature to blow up the pictures to massive!

Hi

Your essential vocab's are cool, i like them, they are short, precise and concise.

actually im rather old fashioned i abhore reading optometry material on the net i simply must have it in paper form and i think most students would agree with me as we have to learn the material in parrot fashion with comprehension, so i should imagine your far more advanced with regards to computer/internet literate.

i checked those sites out they are really good, esp the elsevier one as you can actually download a chapter from each book.

once again thanks alot for your help it has no doubt been immensely helpful.

ps when you have finished the essential vocab series please do collate it into a PDF doc

okay - I was thinking abt this today. I might put up some stuff abt amd etc. I can make PDF's - but this website can't store them. I will ask them !

There is other sites giving video's on conditions.

If you want books - i would email library and get books sent down - they don't have to be big or heavy!

all the best and good luck to you -steve. How is the year going? My own (trad) pre-reg year was not so hot, the supervisor was mainly on another planet and I felt very alone with the work. I had some resits - i am sure they could have been avoided if the super had been better. However --- that's life, eh?

well, where shall i start concerning the pre reg, not going to good, but better than before.

it is my second cycle did the traditional PQE's failed case records on the third attempt so am doing the whole pre reg again now.

graduated in 2001 took 2 years out due to undue family circumstances so did PQE's from 10/2003 to 01/2005 with approx 20-25 tests a day, with patients who mostly (90%) did not speak english and alot alot more. the only help i got from my supervisor was erm gosh i have to think so hard if i actually did get any help. He never tested at all i was just there all day on my own even when running late, i can assure you i have alot more to say but you learn from your circumstances and move on.i used to do diabetic screening's aswell maybe 3-4 daily (still am as a matter of fact)

i also had to do my pre reg without getting paid as i agreed to it otherwise i would have had to return to university as the college considers you to be incompetent after 3 years after graduation so decided to do it with the anticipation that id hopefully pass.

to sum it up not a very nice pre reg. like you said thats life eh?

the currect pre reg is OKish better to say the least, so yeh, the year is cool,

-Shucks - thats tough! Yes - I had to move on as well - . Just stick at it - and get the pre-reg stuff out the way. At least, all this experience should help! Good luck in every way. If you get stuck with any help - post it here - okay? I monitor the site daily. all the best - steve

thanks you have been indeed very helpful and im sure you will continue to do so.

i doubt it if you can help with this particular issue but any tips would be invaluable. I am monocular, LE Oculu-retinal Coloboma VA CF 1/3m RE 6/4 with 10 degree retinal coloboma. Im dying to see a 3-D fundi with a volk, i know theoretically its impossible but any tips.

oops, sorry i forgot to ask ive found a titles something like, "The PQE survival guide..." by Dr. Frank Eperjesi, have yo come across this book and more importantly is it worth the 25 pounds

i found this in optometry today

www.ibackup.com username: optometry password: cet2006 36 cet points

pictures with Q and A's v.good

Chears Imasoom,

The pqe survival guide - I have read. I would suggest to get it from the library before you go out and buy it. It is quite a thin book, I forget when it was published -but you need stuff bang up to date. Get it from the library and you got a month to read it up. Its not that thick - so won't take long to read. Do read it though -

Volk, well there is a thing - most viewing with the volk is monocular, you only just get to see a binocular view when the pupil is 6 mm or larger. And then its only a small stereo patch centrally. Dilating the pupil to 9mm will increase that stereo patch. What I am saying that you won't see stereo unless you dilate - so if you're using a volk undilated - then you view is little different from anybody else's! You can see more - so practice like mad. Don't forget hygiene - wash hands before each px. Make sure the slit lamp is properly focused and the eye pieces are clean. So don't dive-in to do it - check the slit lamp out first. When doing volk = don't forget to use a green red free filter as well. You may have to increase brightness to see the retina with red free. Red free increases contrast - but - will also show up the retinal nerve fiber layer. Defects here shows a possibility of optic nerve pathology- usually glaucoma. A healthy nerve fiber layer is seen as a brighter arch coming out of the nerve head above and below, it tends to follow the vascular arcades. Grey streaks, or patches (can be small) are defects, that may indicate glaucoma. Red free also shows up any drusen centrally (if dilated) - so its nice to use as well as the white light. -all the best - steve