OBJECTIVE: to investigate the perception and views of health professionals and education on eye health manual for the development of actions of education and health promotion. METHOD: We chose to use focus group techniques of qualitative methodology. Data from four focus groups conducted were grouped into the following categories: the importance of the study, the presentation of material, the complexity of the subject, the motivation and the results were analyzed using content analysis of Bardin. RESULTS: professionals considered important to the subject matter and were motivated to use the material as teaching aids in their activities. Several suggestions were made, with emphasis on improvement in writing the chapter on structures of the eye, which showed very complex and difficult to understand. CONCLUSIONS: for the development of manuals intended for health education is extremely important that it be evaluated mainly by the public that the receptor material is intended to help achieve the objective. Using the technique of focus group for evaluating this manual proved to be a sensitive tool to detect the views and perceptions of professionals on educational materials developed, presenting greater opportunity to meet your goals.