How I Became An Expert on Wellness
Are Ophthalmologist and Optometrist the Same?
There are lots of people who interchangeably use ophthalmologists and optometrists thinking that it’s just the same profession when it comes to seeing eye care expert. While it is true that both play an integral role in delivering professional eye care, you should know that their training, their core competencies and expertise are factors that are differentiating the two.
You will learn the differences of these two professions to end the confusion.
Optometrists – these professionals have completed a degree in Bachelor of Science or even higher, followed by Doctor of Optometry degree from any accredited school of optometry. Yes it is true that they are medical professionals but you ought to know that they aren’t physicians.
Optometrists are clinically trained, educated and also, licensed in delivering highest level of standards of comprehensive and thorough eye care. The services offered by an optometrist include but not limited to prescribing and fitting eyeglasses as well as contact lenses, treating conditions like farsightedness, astigmatism and nearsightedness, participating in either pre or post operative care for patients needing surgery, removing foreign bodies from eyes and so on.
Ophthalmologists – with regards to ophthalmologists, they are basically osteopathic or medical doctor who is specializing in vision and eye care. Much like an optometrist, they have a bachelor’s degree and at the same time, 4 years of medical school at an accredited university. In an accredited university hospital, they have obtained their residency both in surgical as well as medical eye care. Ophthalmologists are basically specialists and surgeons in relation to eye disease and the service they offer varies slightly from optometrists.
Few of the things that they do are to provide vision services such as eye exams, prescribing and fitting contact lenses and eye glasses to rectify vision problems, perform scientific research about eye treatments and disease, do eye care for conditions like iritis, glaucoma and chemical burns, do surgical eye care for people who have cataracts, trauma, crossed and other related conditions and many more.
It is vitally important that you go to an eye doctor if you wish to maintain good vision. Remember that your needs and requirements will be used in determining which profession is perfect for your condition so don’t think that one is better than the other. So make sure that you’re seeing the right expert when the time comes to having your eyes checked.
These two, optometrists and ophthalmologists are trained, well rounded and committed in delivering comprehensive and best eye exams and they are both willing to go the extra mile in listening to your eye care concerns while making sure that all your questions are given answers and that everything is explained clearly at the same time.