In 4 days, 20 hours, and 30 minutes…
Posted by: West Georgia Eye Care Center in Frontpage Article on May 20, 2016
Next week, the National Spelling Bee finals begin, boasting nearly 300 contestants and live broadcasting by ESPN. Last year, the show was the most tweeted program of the week, ousting favorites like “Game of Thrones” and “The Bachelorette.” Cruciverbalists (word game enthusiasts) and legophiles (word lovers) across the globe will tune in for a spellbinding array of dazzlingly diverse words: words like chiaroscurist, which was a championship-winning word a few years back.
What’s a chiaroscurist, you ask? A chiaroscurist is an artist who uses strong contrasts between light and dark. Raphael, Rubens, Rembrandt, and da Vinci are a few masters of this technique.
Chiaroscuro, the verb form of the word, is a technical term for the artistic use of contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional objects. Similar effects in cinema and photography are also called chiaroscuro.
The contrast between light and dark also plays an important role in ophthalmology. One of the signs or symptoms of worsening cataracts is a loss of sensitivity to contrasts between light and dark. Have you ever struggled to distinguish between your black and navy socks? Do you notice night driving becoming more difficult, especially with glaring headlights? These may be signs that it’s time for an eye exam, and an ophthalmology clinic can do special testing to determine what’s causing the symptoms. At West Georgia Eye Care Center, our physicians and staff are something like chiaroscurists: (medical) artists who use light-dark contrast to provide you with the best eye care possible. It’s one of the reasons it matters who you see!
