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GeneralAre Optometrists Doctors?

Since people have existed, the eye has always been sort of a mystery. Sure, there are other areas in medical science that also tripped people up and took a long time in discovering how things worked, but the eyes were always a special case. For thousands of years, people were plagued with eye conditions, and others had no idea at all how to treat them. Lenses to correct vision are only a few centuries old, and a lot of the procedures and medications we use for common eye issues are only decades old, as they weren’t even understood until a short while ago. This means that, in a colloquial sense, optometrists aren’t really thought of like doctors in the same way heart surgeons and emergency room physicians are.

An optometrist has a pretty narrow scope of duties that all relate specifically to the eye. While you will find some very qualified professional optometry practitioners out there, especially at locations like Optiko.ca, the fact is that they’re underappreciated, as not very many people understand the skill and talent they possess or the different things that they are tasked to do. Let’s take a closer look at optometry and answer the question: Are they doctors?

What an Optometrist Is

Yes, an optometrist is certainly a doctor, and optometry is a medical science field. An optometrist is a healthcare professional who has the same sort of education as most any other doctor. They have undergraduate degrees and then attended medical school for quite a few years before working as residents in the field. The scope may be narrower for an optometrist, but the path to get into practice was every bit as long and complex as any other doctor.

These professionals hold a medical degree known as an O.D. Degree, with is a specified branch of medicine, though is still objectively medicine. The biggest difference between an optometrist and another sort of doctor is that the field of optometry is so incredibly specific that it’s likely an optometrist will have all three degrees in optometry: Their bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate.

What an Optometrist Does

1: Eye Exams

The main thing that optometrists are going to do is an eye exam. There are a few different types of exams they can perform. Most people think of the eye exam as in holding one hand over your eye and reading off tiny letters and numbers with your other eye. This is only one type of vision test. An optometrist can also dilate the eye to really see what’s going on deep inside of the organ. They also provide exams after eye injuries to measure the scope of the damage.

2: Treat Various Eye Procedures

An optometrist can also treat a variety of eye issues. Though they are generally not trained to offer any sort of surgery. That’s for an ophthalmologist. Something like LASIK laser surgery, for instance, is something that an optometrist isn’t qualified for. This doctor is typically going to offer eye drops and perhaps a few other sorts of medicines by prescription that will help the eye heal. If you need any sort of corrective surgery, you will likely be handed over to an ophthalmologist to handle this.

3: Prescribe Glasses/Corrective Measures

The general way that an optometrist treats eye vision issues is by prescribing glasses or contact lenses. This is an involved process that has to be done correctly, however. The optometrist is going to keep testing your vision until the exact corrective prescription you need is dialled in. They may also prescribe different sorts of drops and other medications to help out with other eye issues. Though as we said above, the scope of an optometrist is pretty narrow.

One thing that we really want you to remember above all others here is that not every single optometry clinic you can visit is the same. There’s a hierarchy here, just like with most everything else in life. So, if you and your family need to see an eye doctor, then you should choose a local clinic that is highly rated and has friendly, skilled, professional doctors to help you.

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Digital Health Buzz!

Digital Health Buzz!

Digital Health Buzz! aims to be the destination of choice when it comes to what’s happening in the digital health world. We are not about news and views, but informative articles and thoughts to apply in your business.

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