Dictionary

Named signs

Signs and patterns named after the people who described them: Kussmaul, Homans, Chvostek and more.

setting-sun signEyes turned downward so that a strip of white shows above the colored part of the eye, like a sun setting below the horizon.

Snellen chartAn eye chart with rows of letters that get smaller, used to test how clearly a person sees at a distance.

Somogyi effectA high morning blood glucose that follows a low blood glucose during the night.

steeple signA tapered narrowing of the upper airway below the vocal cords that looks like a church steeple on a front-view neck x-ray.

Stevens-Johnson syndromeA rare, severe reaction, most often to a drug, in which the skin and the moist linings of the body blister and peel away.