Just like it is important to get regular check-ups with your family physician, it is also important to have regular check-ups performed by an eye doctor. This will help ensure your vision remains strong and that you receive the proper treatment if problems arise. Both optometrists and opticians play important roles in helping patients maintain the best vision possible. These are the different types of services that optometrists and opticians provide.
Optometrists
Optometrists at clinics like San Anselmo Optometry are primary vision care professionals who can perform many services to determine the condition of the eyes. They perform thorough eye exams and give vision tests to help diagnose any vision problems that may exist. Optometrists prescribe corrective lenses and medications that are used to treat vision problems and certain eye conditions.
Optometrists commonly diagnose cataracts, conjunctivitis, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and macular degeneration. However, optometrists do not perform eye surgery on patients who have severe vision problems or eye diseases.
Opticians
Opticians are not actually licensed to give eye exams or treat conditions of the eyes. Instead, opticians provide services to those patients who have been prescribed corrective lenses. Opticians handle the technical area of helping improve the vision of patients. They also verify the prescriptions for eyeglasses, contact lenses or other devices used to correct the vision.
An optician may take the facial measurements of patients and help them to choose eyeglasses that best meet their needs. Opticians also adjust and repair frames, glasses and contact lenses so that patients can wear them comfortably.
Optometrists and opticians often work together as a team to provide patients with the best type of vision correction possible. Without the prescription that is created by the optometrist, the optician could not create corrective glasses or contact lenses for the patients.
Ophthalmologists
However, if a patient has a severe eye condition that needs extensive medical treatment or surgery, this must be performed by an ophthalmologist. The ophthalmologist is the only type of eye doctor that is legally licensed to treat all types of eye diseases and perform surgical procedures on patients.
Like the optometrist, the ophthalmologist also relies on the optician to make corrective lenses that will help improve the vision of his patients. It is not uncommon for an optometrist or an ophthalmologist to have an optician that works in the lab area of his practice to help ensure that corrective lenses are available to the patients in a timely manner.
Share30 June 2016
Hi, I'm Deena, and as I neared middle age, I noticed that my eyesight wasn't as good as it used to be. I first started out needing reading glasses to read the small print in magazines, and then a few months later, I had to put them on to see the computer screen clearly. I knew by then that my eyes were getting worse and that I needed to do something quickly. I made an appointment with the optometrist and the doctor gave me an eye exam. Even though my sight wasn't as bad as I had feared, I still needed prescription glasses. I love my new glasses because I can actually see now. I have put together a lot of information about eye problems, eye tests and even various types of eye wear so that others don't wait as long as I did to see the eye doctor.