bilaterally
On Both Sides
Plain-language definition
Affecting both eyes or both sides. Bilateral involvement of the optic nerve is more suggestive of NMO or MOGAD than of typical MS.
Expanded explanation
bilaterally is the glossary term for On Both Sides. On a full article page, it should be read as a clinical term term, not as a stand-alone diagnosis or treatment plan.
Clinical terms are shorthand for symptoms, signs, risk factors, or patterns doctors use while narrowing a differential diagnosis. They are most useful when paired with timing, laterality, severity, and exam findings.
In eye care context
Clinical terms are words clinicians use to describe symptoms, signs, risk factors, or patterns seen during evaluation.
What to look for around this term
- Whether the term describes something the patient notices or something seen on examination.
- Whether it is constant, intermittent, worsening, improving, painful, painless, one-sided, or bilateral.
- Which associated symptoms make the term more concerning or point toward a specific cause.
Questions this term may raise
- What symptom or sign is this describing?
- What details change the level of concern?
- What condition is the article trying to distinguish it from?
- Category
- Clinical term
- Also written as
- bilateral
Related glossary terms
- anticholinergic
Acetylcholine-Blocking
- APD
Afferent Pupillary Defect
- aponeurotic
Tendon-Related
- aqueous-deficient
Insufficient Tear Production
- arcuate
Arc-Shaped
- arteritic
Artery Inflammation-Related
A note on medical context
A glossary definition can explain a word, but it cannot tell you whether a symptom or test result is serious. If this term came from an article, use the full article and your clinician's guidance for context.