Optometrist, Ophthalmologist, and Optician: Choosing the Right Eye Care Professi

Posted by sophiamilller on May 12th, 2013

There are thousands of undiagnosed and untreated eye illnesses, eye afflictions, and forms of vision impairment in citizens across the country and across the world. If you’rehaving troublewith reading the words of this article, then you might just be one of them. If that is the case, then you need to go get checked up by an eye care specialist. Unfortunately, most people who try to look for eye care professionals are unfamiliar with the different kinds of specialists and often end up jumping from optician to optometrist to ophthalmologist.

It doesn’t mean that you have to make the same mistake. You can easily avoid the hassle and redundant bills. All that it takes is a little know-how about what eye specialist is best for you. There are three main kinds of eye care specialists; optician, optometrist and ophthalmologist. Each individual has their own specialty and capabilities. This article will tell you a little about what each one does, and when you should visit them.

Optometrist

Optometrists, contrary to common belief, are not medicine doctors; they still fall under the category of health care professionals. They are licensed to deal with primary care of the eyes and to administer vision tests and eye exams. They are capable of diagnosing some eye ailments and vision impairment, but cannot prescribe medicine, deal with more complex eye problems, nor administer eye surgeries. They commonly assist ophthalmologists and serve in the clinic under a doctor.

Visit an optometrist if you need to get your quality of vision checked or need basic eye care treatment. Vision tests and eye exams can also be administered by them.

Optician

In the field of general medicine, opticians are equivalent to a medical technologist. An optician is a health care professional who deals solely with running equipment related to eye care, eye testing and fitting of glasses and the lens. They mostly work together with an ophthalmologist and an optometrist or a team of optometrists to serve as their technician.

Opticians are not trained to give prescriptions or to diagnose eye illnesses of any kind, and their role in an ophthalmology clinic is strictly limited to assisting other eye care professionals and making glasses.

It is fairly unlikely that you will need to go to an optician without going to ophthalmologists and optometrists first for diagnoses and testing. Visit an optician when you want to change out the frame of your lenses or gets parts of the frame adjusted.

Ophthalmologist

Ophthalmologists are actual medical doctors who specialize in eye care and treatment. They are capable of diagnosing all eye illnesses, prescribing medicine and glasses or lens, and providing complex treatment and eye surgery. They tend to be the head of an ophthalmology clinic, and any optometrist oropticianshould report to them.

Visit an ophthalmologist if you have a severe and complex eye problem, especially if it is a part of a more general disease; when you need medicine or surgery or a more accurate and careful diagnosis, the ophthalmologist is the best choice.

You can find your optometrist by visiting our site