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Maintaining good eye health is vital to leading a fulfilled and enjoyable life well into old age. One of the best resources you have available to you in the quest for better eye health is a team of eye care professionals. While practicing a healthy lifestyle will go a long way in ensuring great eye sight for a long time, you will also need to regularly visit with an eye care professional, so they can catch problems early and make adjustments to your routine if needed.
We know that finding the right doctor can be a challenge, especially when there are many eye care specialties to choose from! We’ve created the following guide to walk you through the different types of eye care professionals, their credentials and qualifications, the services they offer, and how to select the best one for your needs.
The Many Kinds of Eye Care Providers
Most likely you have heard of an optometrist or ophthalmologist. However, do you know the difference between an optometrist and an optician? Do you know which specialist should perform your regular eye exam and which would provide guidance on cataract surgery? Learning the basics about what each professional does can help you narrow down which to call, depending on what you need. It will save you time and hassle when you book the correct appointment first. Let’s explore the basics of each eye care professional:
- Optician: An optician is an eye care professional that will fill your eye care prescriptions by helping you select the right glasses, contacts, low-vision devices, artificial eyes, or other vision device. They are skilled in fitting lenses and frames to help you get the perfect pair of contact lenses or glasses. When needed, they can take facial measurements and confirm that your prescription is correct. However, opticians are not able to perform eye exams or write prescriptions.
- Optometrist: Most patients visit an optometrist for their primary eye care needs as a optometrist is an expert at diagnosing eye diseases, providing routine eye exams and prescriptions when needed, managing various eye conditions, and providing emergency eye care services. An optometrist may also specialize in a particular area, such as pediatric eye care, cornea and contact lenses, vision therapy, family practice, and more.
- Ophthalmologist: An ophthalmologist is a medical physician specializing in eye care that has received comprehensive training. They perform eye surgery and can diagnose and treat all eye conditions. Some ophthalmologists will specialize in certain areas of eye care, including cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and others. If you need surgery or need to visit a specialist for an eye condition, you will most likely visit with an ophthalmologist.
What Qualifications or Credentials Should Your Eye Doctor Have?
When deciding on which eye care professional to see, you should research their education and qualifications to ensure they are in line with what is expected of the services they will provide. Because each professional performs different services, they must obtain different qualifications and credentials. For example, an optician receives far less schooling than an ophthalmologist, but will need to pass a licensing exam to ensure they have retained the necessary information to fit patients for eye glasses and contact lenses.
An optometrist must obtain a Doctor of Optometry degree from an accredited school and pass either the state licensing exam or the National Board Examination in order to practice as an optometrist. When choosing an optometrist for your eye exams, be sure they have an active license and have attended a reputable optometry school.
Finally, an ophthalmologist is a medical physician and must be board certified in order to perform eye surgery. This profession requires a four-year undergraduate degree in the sciences, a medical school degree from an accredited school to become a physician, a one-year internship, and a three-year residency program to be completed after finishing medical school. This makes ophthalmologists the most highly trained eye care professionals in the industry. Most likely, you will be referred to an ophthalmologist for eye surgery or for specialized care. In that case, it is important to track the training and experience they have as it relates to the condition they will be treating.
Get the Full List of Eye Care Services Provided
There is a big difference between going to an eye care clinic and visiting an eye glasses store that has an optometrist on call. Achieving the best eye health requires a proactive and consistent approach to care, so it’s worth finding an eye care clinic that provides a comprehensive range of services from a variety of eye care professionals. These types of clinics can also provide referrals to specialists if they don’t have anyone on staff.
Most often, an eye care clinic will have both optometrists and ophthalmologists on staff and provide a range of services, including eye exams and contact lenses fittings, eye disease diagnosis and management, LASIK surgery, cataract surgery, emergency eye care services, and much more. Be sure their services align with the condition you need to have treated.
Evaluating the Technology and Facilities Available at an Eye Care Practice
As you may know, some eye care clinics only offer eye exams and eye glasses or contact lenses, while others have the technology available to perform eye surgeries in office. An important aspect of finding the right eye care doctor is the technology in use at the office and the clinic’s surgical capabilities. It is important to find an eye care services provider that believes in investing in the latest technology. If you think you may need surgery in the future, it is worth making sure your eye care doctor can perform some surgeries in the comfort of their clinic, so you can avoid lengthy referral processes or additional costs for hospital admission.
Today’s technology helps eye care professionals deliver better outcomes for diagnosing and treating conditions. When you consult with an eye care professional, ask them about their diagnostic equipment and surgical capabilities. They should be happy to explain to you what technologies and advanced methodologies they use and how it compares to some of the other clinics in the area.
“Where Is the Best Eye Doctor Near Me?”
The right eye doctor is best found by researching reviews and getting recommendations from family and friends. Before you book an appointment with any eye care clinic, ask your close friends and family who they recommend visiting and have them tell you about the services or surgeries they received. Then, with that information in mind, compare the doctor’s reputation and reliability against online reviews. Patients have ample opportunity to review doctors and provide context for why they rated them a certain way. Take into consideration details that might be important to you such as waiting times or the doctor’s experience performing LASIK surgery.
Finding the right eye care doctor does not have to be stressful. Using the information outlined in this guide, you should be able to find a respectable, experienced eye care doctor that can deliver the exact services you need, all while helping you achieve optimal eye health.
For additional information, or to schedule an eye appointment with one of our eye care doctors, visit the OCLI website.
