The eye is one of the most important parts of the human body. Loss of the eyes means a person will struggle immensely to get through their normal daily activities. Factually, for the vast majority of people, loss of sight is worse than the loss of hearing or ability to speak. This is why it is very necessary to protect this part of the body.
However, taking care of our eyes is not something that can be fully done on our own. In certain situations, the help of professionals, especially medical practitioners will be needed and that is where ophthalmologists, opticians, and optometrists come into play.
It is very common for people to think these professionals all do the same but it is important to point out that this is not the case. The levels of training and expertise are different for each of the eye doctors. Thus, we will be discussing these three types of eye doctors and how they are different from one another.
Ophthalmologist
The ophthalmologist is a medical practitioner or osteopathic doctor that specializes in eye and vision care. He is different from an optometrist and an optician in terms of training level and the type of diagnosis and treatment that he gives. To be licensed to practice medicine and surgery as an ophthalmologist, a medical doctor must have finished college as well as about 8 years of additional medical training.
The ophthalmologist diagnoses and treats all kinds of eye diseases. He also performs eye surgery and makes prescriptions. Furthermore, an ophthalmologist fits eyeglasses and contact lenses to correct vision problems. A lot of ophthalmologists also participate in scientific research on the causes and cures for the different eye diseases and vision disorders.
Optometrist
The second type of eye doctor that we have is the optometrist. An optometrist is a healthcare professional that offers primary vision care to patients. This ranges from sight testing and correction to others like diagnosis, treatment as well as management of vision changes. It should be noted that an optometrist is technically not classified as a doctor.
To become an optometrist, you would have to be a doctor of optometry degree upon the completion of four years of optometry school. Of course, this must be preceded by three years or more in the college. Upon licensing, the role of an optometrist primarily revolves around conducting eye examinations and vision tests, detecting eye problems, prescription, and dispensing of corrective lenses as well as prescribing medications for some eye abnormalities.
Optician
The optician is the third type of eye doctor. This professional is simply a technician trained to design, verify, and also fit contact lenses, eyeglass lenses, and frames as well as other items that correct eye defects. The optician makes use of prescriptions made by the optometrist or ophthalmologist. However, they do not test vision nor write prescriptions for visual correction. They are also not permitted to diagnose and treat eye defects because they don’t have any medical degree for doing so.
With this article, you can distinguish between these three eye professionals.
