One of the important things you must consider for your eye health is picking the right eye doctor. They are the ones responsible for taking care and protecting your vision forever.
But before you decide, you must know that there are two types of eye doctors namely ophthalmologists and optometrists.
Knowing more about ophthalmologist and optometrist
When we start talking about an ophthalmologist, it is a kind of a medical doctor or so-called osteopathic doctor who has a specialization in vision and eye care. They are trained to examine your eyes, treat and diagnose diseases, perform on eye surgery and prescribe medications as well. They also have the knowledge in providing prescriptions on contact lenses and eyeglasses.
Basically, they completed college and medical school within eight years. One year on the internship phase and at least three years on hospital-based residency on the ophthalmology course.
On the other hand, optometrists are the eye doctors who earned their doctoral degree for Optometry. These are the doctors both for your health and vision problem and correction on the refractive errors through prescription of the contact and eyeglasses lens. There are some who offers vision therapy as well as low vision care.
In the United States, there are licensed optometrists who can give prescriptions for the treatment of certain eye condition and diseases. However, the scope and capacity of medical care which can be provided by these doctors is being guided by the state law. In addition to this, they are also participating on the pre and post-operative care when one is involved in an eye surgery.
Just like the ophthalmologist, they also need to achieve the continuing education course in an on-going basis so that they can still retain their licensure and able to stay with the most recent and latest eye care’s standard.
What is the role of an Optician?
Oops. This is not anymore a kind of eye doctor but still it is an essential part of the team for your eye care. Opticians usually use the prescription coming from the two mentioned types of eye doctor in order to fit and sell contact lenses, eyeglasses and many other types of eyewear.
Which of them do your need to see?
If you know that you have a healthy set of eyes and don’t need a special kind of surgery or treatment, then it all depends to you on what kind of eye doctor you are going to consult with. Both of the ophthalmologists and optometrists perform specific eye examination and evaluation since both of them are well trained in detecting, diagnosing and handling eye conditions which requires non-medical and medical attention. However, if you are already suffering from an eye condition or disease such as cataract or glaucoma, it is then much better if you will ask the assistance of the eye doctor which has a high level of skills and training in treating and monitoring your situation right away.
