What The Three Different Eye Care Professional Careers Are And What They Do
December 30, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
A lot of people in this nation and in other regions of the world, too, need the help of a Grand Blanc eye doctor at some time in their lives. The reasons to get help from a Grand Blanc vision care are as varied as the people that go to them. Some people are born with poor eyesight while others may have a chronic eye disease and some may injure their eye in an accident. When you need the assistance of an eye doctor a lot of people get confused by the various kinds of help they may need or may have. There are three types of people that work in this particular field and they are an ophthalmologist, an optometrist and an optician. This article will go through the details of each for your better understanding .
First of all, an ophthalmologist is trained in the medical and surgical care of the eyes and the entire visual system. These physicians either are doctors of medicine (MD) or doctors of osteopathy (DO) after receiving their medical degree. To become an ophthalmologist, you must take pre-medical studies during their undergraduate work followed by four years of medical school. Following medical school, there is a one year internship followed by 3-4 years of specialized medical training. The doctors are trained to deal with problems having to do with the eye as far as diseases and doing eye surgeries.
The second type of eye physician is known as an optometrist. They have had four years of professional education at a college of optometry where they receive a degree in doctors of optometry (OD). Some optometrists also do an optional one year residency on top of medical school. An optometrist is trained to diagnose and treat many eye diseases and problems with the eye but not all of them and they are not able to do surgical procedures.
The last type of person you may notice in an eye doctor’s office is an optician. An optician has a two year technical degree that allows them to help an ophthalmologist or optometrist with vision screening and all the things related to treating vision problems. This would be analyzing and understanding prescriptions for eye wear or contact lenses and helping people with picking out those two things as well . A lot of eye care places have a ophthalmologist or optometrist to do the eye exam and to treat the patient and the optician then will assist the person with their new eye prescriptions if needed.
If you only have a slight problem with your vision then going to an optometrist would be a great option. Sometimes a severe eye injury may require surgery or a bad eye condition then you should see an ophthalmologist. It can be baffling not knowing what these different jobs mean and what their experience is in the type of vision care and what they have the training to do and not do. Hopefully, now after seeing this article that is now clear and gives you a better understanding.