OBJECTIVE: To identify how the simulators are being used for education, training, therapy and tests in medicine, particularly ophthalmology. Virtual reality has emerged as an auxiliary tool in education and medical training. In ophthalmology, the progress of this technique has been published in some health magazines. Based on these sources, we investigated the ophthalmology have interacted with virtual reality, this tool that came to support the teaching of medicine. METHODS: A systematic review of articles in leading journals on the subject between 1995 and 2010 as well as books on the subject. RESULTS: After reviewing 200 articles on medical education and virtual reality published in national and international journals between 1995 and 2010 we see the differences between the areas of medicine with regard to the use of VR. Only 10 articles with explicit deepening ophthalmic simulators. CONCLUSION: Ophthalmology is one of the areas least interact with virtual reality, due to difficulties of assembling images for application in the simulator. But it is one of the areas most in need, because the delicacy of the work structure, the human eye. Thus, the Virtual Reality (VR) has asparecido in virtual otoscopy and formation of virtual atals. At surgery, the simulators are still few, but will probably be the most promising area because of the advantages of virtual training. Thus, RV has appeared next to serious games, education and training of ophthalmology, and treatment of phobias.
Computer, simulation; Education, medical; Models, educational; User-computer interface; Competency-based education/methods