Medical Spanish for Ophthalmology – A Basic Survival Guide

Disclaimer: We are not certified medical translators, but we wrote this guide with the help of a native Spanish speaking ophthalmologist.

Ophthalmology clinic moves fast. Knowing some basic Spanish will make your day infinitely more efficient if you have a heavy Spanish speaking only clinic.

The following are frequently used questions/phrases that will set you up on the right path to communicating with your Spanish speaking patients. They are designed to be easy to memorize and easy to use. Easy words are substituted for difficult ones, and many things that aren’t essential are left out.

Advice for complete beginners: Focus on the absolute basics like learning how to give instructions (“look up, left, down, right”, “put your chin here”, “put your hands here”, etc.). Don’t worry about putting together full sentences or conjugating verbs. You won’t have time to learn that well initially and patients will know what you mean. As you go, you can try to pick up basic counseling phrases like “Your eyes are healthy”, “Use one drop in each eye every night”, etc. Most hospitals will have a decent translator service you can use for more advanced patient counseling.

¡Buenas suerte! (Good Luck!)

Key Disease Terminology

Cataract – Catarata
Glaucoma – Glaucoma
Blood – Sangre
Inflammation – Inflamación
Diabetes – Diabetes
Macular Degeneration – Degeneración macular

Eye complaints

Blurry – Borroso, nublado
Dolor – Pain
Floating spots – Manchas flotantes
Flashes of light – Destellos/rayos de luz
Itchy – Picante
Burning – Ardor
Dry – Seco
Double vision – Vista doble

Other

Necessary – Necesario
Problem – Problema
Every 2 hours – Cada dos horas