Unilaterally

Unilateral refers to something that occurs on, affects, or is related to only one side. In the medical field, this term is often used to describe symptoms, conditions, or procedures that involve or affect only one side of the body.

Medical Context

In a medical context, unilateral can refer to a wide range of situations. For example, a patient might experience unilateral pain, which is pain that is felt on only one side of the body. Similarly, a doctor might perform a unilateral mastectomy, which is a surgical procedure to remove one breast.

Unilateral conditions can affect various parts of the body, including the brain, eyes, ears, lungs, kidneys, and limbs. For example, unilateral hearing loss refers to hearing loss in one ear, while unilateral kidney disease refers to disease in one kidney.

Unilateral vs. Bilateral

The term unilateral is often contrasted with bilateral, which refers to something that occurs on, affects, or is related to both sides. For example, bilateral hearing loss refers to hearing loss in both ears.

See Also

• Bilateral
• Symmetry in biology
• Asymmetry

References

Unilaterally Resources
Need Help Finding a Doctor? Need help finding a doctor or specialist anywhere in the world? Explore our world directory. WikiMD's DocFinder can assist you in locating millions of physicians.	Medical Knowledge Access the latest research - Most recent articles Ongoing trials.