Optics & Refraction Lectures
Optics is the subject most residents postpone and most examiners enjoy. The checklist below takes you from vergence and prisms to retinoscopy, cross-cylinder, contact lenses and low vision aids, in the order they build on each other. Each topic links to a short worked page, and several have calculators so you can check your arithmetic.
Running an optical in your practice? Many ophthalmologists in private practice dispense glasses. These counter guides cover what you and your optician need day to day:
Revise optics and refraction here: 15-topic syllabus
Work through the core syllabus topic by topic. Tick each one when you have revised it; your progress is saved on this device. See every subspecialty on the revise ophthalmology page.
Experiencing symptoms like these? Learn about our Eye Department or book a consultation with Dr. Dhaval Patel.
Complete index: all 61 optics and refraction pages
Every RPC Rounds page on this subspecialty, grouped by type. Filter and search them on the learning dashboard.
High-yield lists 29
- "Is My Headache From My Eyes?" Eye Causes of Headache, What Glasses Can and Cannot Fix, and Red Flags
- Accommodative Anomalies and Vision Therapy: Insufficiency, Excess, Infacility and Spasm
- Anisometropia and Aniseikonia: Prescribing High and Unequal Powers
- Clinical Optics Made Easy: Vergence, Prisms and Magnification
- Community Optometry, Public Health and Law in India: NPCBVI, School Screening, NCAHP Act and Registration
- Contact Lens Materials and Care Systems: Dk/t, Water Content, FDA Groups, Solutions and Wearing Schedules
- Convergence Insufficiency and Convergence Excess: Diagnosis, Treatment and Exercises
- Cycloplegic Refraction and Refracting Children: Drugs, Technique and Prescribing
- Diagnostic Drugs for Optometrists: Mydriatics, Cycloplegics, Anaesthetics and Stains
- Formulas in Ophthalmology
- Frame Selection and Spectacle Fitting: Boxing System, PD, Fitting Height, Tilt and Wrap
- Geometric and Physical Optics for Optometrists: Lenses, Prisms, Interference and Polarisation
- Geriatric Optometry: Ageing Eye Changes, Prescribing for Older Adults and Falls
- Low Vision Assessment Step by Step: History, Charts, Contrast, Magnification and Rehabilitation
- Monocular Diplopia and Ghost Images: Causes, the Pinhole Test and How to Find the Source
- Night Myopia, Pseudomyopia and Other Myopic Shifts: When "More Minus" Is Not True Myopia
- Occupational and Sports Optometry: Visual Standards, Protective Eyewear and Screen Use
- Optometry Case Record and Refraction Template: Printable Case History, Refraction and Prescription Sheet
- Paediatric Optometry: Vision Testing by Age, Refraction and an Amblyopia Plan for Optometrists
- Prisms in Practice: Prescribing, Splitting, Decentration and Fresnel Prisms
- RPC Rounds for Optometrists: B.Optom Curriculum, Study Guide and Practical Pearls
- Spectacle Lens Designs: Aspheric, Bifocals and Progressive Lenses (Fitting and Troubleshooting)
- Spectacle Lens Materials and Coatings: CR-39, Polycarbonate, Trivex, High Index, Abbe Value and Blue-Cut
- Spectacle Lens Types Compared: Single Vision, Bifocal, Trifocal, Progressive and Office Lenses, With an Order Checklist
- Spectacle Non-Tolerance: A Step-by-Step Troubleshooting Guide for Optometrists
- Subjective Refraction Step by Step: Fogging, Best Sphere, Cross-Cylinder, Binocular Balance and Near Add
- Sunglasses, Polarised and Photochromic Lenses, Tints and Night-Driving Glasses: A Practical Guide
- Visual Acuity Conversion Chart: Snellen, logMAR, Decimal and Near
- Visual Optics for Optometrists: Schematic Eye, Purkinje Images, Pupil, Aberrations and Depth of Focus
Classifications & gradings 5
- Colour Vision Testing: Ishihara Scoring, Other Tests and Job Rules
- Contact Lens Quick Reference and Fitting Guide: Vertex, LARS, RGP Patterns, Irregular Cornea and Scleral Lenses
- Pathological Myopia and Myopic Maculopathy: META-PM and ATN Grading
- Spectacle Dispensing Reference: PD, Fitting Height, Tolerances
- When to Prescribe Glasses in Children: AAO Thresholds by Age
Viva & exam prep 14
- Accommodation Testing: Amplitude, MEM and Nott Retinoscopy, Facility, NRA and PRA
- Atropine 0.01% Eyedrops in Myopia
- B.Optom Practical and Viva Stations: 30 OSCE-Style Stations With Model Answers
- Duochrome (Red-Green) Test: How It Works and RAM GAP
- Jackson Cross-Cylinder: How to Refine Axis and Power
- Keratometry and Slit Lamp Illumination Techniques for Optometrists
- Lasers in Ophthalmology Made Easy: Time, Colour and Use
- Lensometer (Focimeter) Step by Step: Single Vision, Prism, Bifocals and Progressive Lenses
- Myopia Control in 2026: Atropine, Lenslet Spectacles, Ortho-K and Red Light
- Presbyopia Eye Drops: Pilocarpine and Aceclidine Explained
- Refraction Calculators: Near Add, AC/A Ratio, Retinoscopy and Prism
- Retinoscopy Tips: With vs Against Movement and Working Distance
- Tonometry for Optometrists: Non-Contact, Goldmann, Rebound and Perkins, With Sources of Error
- Understanding Myopia
Surgical 1
Calculators & tools 7
- Contact Lens Calculator: Soft, Toric and RGP Power, Base Curve and Tear Lens
- Eye Calculators and Tools for Ophthalmologists
- Low Vision Aids Calculator: Kestenbaum Rule and Magnification
- Prentice's Rule: Induced Prism With Worked Examples
- Refractive Surgery Calculator: Ablation Depth, Residual Stromal Bed and Percent Tissue Altered
- Spectacle Transposition and Contact Lens Power Tool
- Vertex Distance: Formula, Examples and When It Matters
Quizzes & self-test 5
- B.Optom Mock Test: 50 Optometry MCQs with Explanations
- Gulf Optometry Licensing Mock Test (DHA, DOH, SCFHS, QCHP): 50 MCQs with Explanations
- NBEO-Style Optometry Mock Test: 50 Applied Basic Science MCQs with Explanations
- OCANZ-Style Optometry Mock Test: 50 Clinical Science MCQs with Explanations
- Optometry Exams Abroad: USA (NBEO), UK (GOC), Australia (OCANZ), Canada, Ireland and Gulf Licensing for Indian Optometrists