What is the generic term for the distinction between left and right eye?

Question

I'm writing an ophthalmology-related tutorial, and I need to reference the distinction between left and right eyes — for instance, if I'm referring to this case information: "Male; 29 years old; Left eye", I would want to write,

"the header displays the patient's gender, age, and _________"

referring to the case's specification of which eye it documents (awkward sounding examples: eye polarity, eye handedness, etc). Is there an existing generic term for this?

Thanks!

Matt

Possible duplicate of What's the single-word for "left or right handed"? — Dan Bron, Jun 02 '16 at 20:11
I think I'd probably say *affected eye* or *eye affected*. Especially so for a tutorial, which generally calls for simpler, more common language than a technical document does. — PellMel, Jun 02 '16 at 20:12
@DanBron that's a very close question but since it was somewhat specific to hands I wanted to know if there was something more specific to a distinction like the one between eyes. — , Jun 02 '16 at 20:18
@PellMel I like that; if you want to post it I'll give it a checkmark (or do I not have enough rep?) — , Jun 02 '16 at 20:19
@Koan you have enough rep to decide the answer. The purpose is to provide you with an answer. If you are satisfied, say so. — vickyace, Jun 02 '16 at 20:50
I agree with @PellMel and in fact you could just say, “*Eye” and then the entry can just be left* or right — Jim, Jun 02 '16 at 21:57
Spell it out. Being clear is more desirable than being correct or right. — Stan, Jun 03 '16 at 00:04
The technical medical term would be 'laterality' but it just doesn't fit the sentence 'the patient's laterality'. The most correct is 'which side the affected eye is on' but that doesn't fit the blank either. 'side of affected eye' maybe? @PellMel's is best so far. — Mitch, Jun 03 '16 at 00:50
Just make sure they can check L or R after Eye. — John Lawler, Jun 03 '16 at 03:34

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 03 '16 at 13:54

1

I am unaware with any single word that specifically expresses the distinction between the left eye and the right eye. @Mitch's more general laterality expresses the association of a condition with one side of the body or the other, so you might use that, but as I wrote in comments, I'm inclined to prefer affected eye or eye affected as a less technical term more suited to a tutorial. @Jim's alternative of shortening that to simply eye is viable, too, but I think one of the longer forms fits a bit better in your example sentence.

answered Jun 03 '16 at 13:54

PellMel

3,014

I agree that the syntax of my sentence isn't conducive at all for an elegant way to put it. I went with "the patient’s age, gender, and which eye is being shown." Not elegant, but it's a longer form that fits the sentence better as you mentioned, and "affected eye" has the implication that the other one doesn't have any problems. Thanks for your suggestions. – Jun 03 '16 at 18:47

What is the generic term for the distinction between left and right eye?

1 Answers1