Improve your eyesight Understanding The Role Of The Optometrist
Thursday, May 6, 2010 8:45:45 PM
An optometrist is a trained medical professional who fulfils certain roles in the general care of our eyes. In some countries optometrists are known as dispensing opticians or simply opticians. It is worth noting, however, that in some countries the term optician may only be given to a person who actually puts together glasses to prescriptions and not to someone who can also offer optometrist (i.e. eye test) services.
Although optometrists have specific medical training they are not generally qualified doctors. Their training is focused on the eye, how it works, its diseases and its overall care and maintenance. They are also trained in how to assess standard vision problems such as myopia and hyperopia and in how to prescribe corrective glasses and contact lenses that will give solutions to these problems.
So, most of us will see an optometrist purely to have our eyes checked out from a vision point of view. We should all do this although it is most often really people who already known that they need glasses or contacts who do this on a regular basis.
Most optometrists will work in eye clinics and stores although most hospitals will also have these trained personnel on their staff. In some cases optometrists will also work for private clinics where they partner with ophthalmic specialists to offer a full eye service.
As with most medical sectors optometrists can choose to work in a 'general' kind of practice or they can train further in a specialist fields. Common choices here include pediatric optometry and work in the research of eye diseases and problems.
One of the most useful functions of seeing an optometrist regularly is that these medical professionals can often be the people who first spot that you may have a vision problem or disease. If this happens then they can simply and quickly refer you to see an eye doctor or surgeon (i.e. an ophthalmologist).
Nowadays, optometrists don't just check out how well you can or cannot see when they give you an eye test. They also have a barrage of different specialist tests at their disposal that can also help spot and diagnose problems. Not all of these tests will be given to everybody and you may never have any of them but they can be useful in some cases.
So, for example, if an optometrist takes a look at your eyes and has some concerns then he/she can run other tests that give them an indication of whether you may have a problem. Some pretty serious eye diseases such as glaucoma can be spotted by an optometrist -- and, if you get treatment early, glaucoma need not be an issue even though, if left untreated, it can lead to blindness.
This is one of the reasons that many experts recommend that everybody has regular eye tests even if they have good overall vision. All too often eye problems and diseases are not easily spotted by the person suffering from them but can be spotted by an optometrist who can then get you the help that you need.
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