Which instrument an eye specialist uses to examine a patient?

My grandfather who had gone to an eye specialist said the doctor had examined his eyes with an ophthalmoscope.

What sort of an instrument is an ophthalmoscope?

An ophthalmoscope is an instrument used by eye doctors to inspect the interior of the eye. It directs a fine beam of light into the eye through the pupil, the black hole in the middle of the eye. The beam lights up the blood vessels of the retina at the back of the eyeball and the optic nerve. The ophthalmoscope has a magnifying glass which enables the doctor to study the area that is lighted up.

The eye is the only organ whose blood vessels and nerves can be looked at without cutting open the body.

The ophthalmoscope was invented by German scientist Hermann von Helmholtzin 1851.

 

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