A periodic eye exam is one of the best ways to protect your vision. That's because it's so important to detect eye problems at the earliest stage possible. Several serious eye disorders are capable of doing irreparable damage before they cause any symptoms. If you wait for vision problems to show up seeing an eye doctor, you may be waiting too long.
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A regular exam with an eye specialist helps you:
- Detect eye disease when it's most treatable and before irreparable damage has occurred
- Correct or adapt to vision changes brought on by natural aging
- Reduce eyestrain, fatigue and stress in your daily activities
- Rest assured that you're seeing as well as you can
Three kinds of eye specialists, each with different training and experience, can provide routine eye care: ophthalmologists, optometrists and opticians. Which specialist you choose may be a matter of personal preference. But if you have a serious vision disorder or another health problem that affects your vision such as diabetes, you need to see an ophthalmologist, the eye specialist who has the most medical training.
Ophthalmologists
An ophthalmologist is an eye specialist with an M.D. (doctor of medicine) degree. He or she has a thorough understanding of all serious eye conditions and the treatment options available to you. Like your family physician, ophthalmologists have had at least 4 years of medical school, 1 or more years of general clinical training, and 3 or more years in a hospital-based residency program. They may also have had 1 or more years of training in a subspecialty of ophthalmology.
Many ophthalmologists provide full eye care. They can give you a complete eye exam, prescribe corrective lenses, diagnose complex eye diseases and perform surgery if needed. Other ophthalmologists limit the range of their services. Some offer basic eye care and perform certain surgeries but may refer you to another ophthalmologist for a specialized procedure. Some ophthalmologists perform only selected surgical procedures.
Optometrists
An optometrist can assume many duties of the ophthalmologist. In fact both eye care specialists often compete for the privilege of performing your periodic eye exams. An optometrist, however, stops short of treating complex eye diseases or performing eye surgery.
Optometrists have an O.D. (doctor of optometry) degree. They have usually completed 4 years of training at an optometric school after graduation from college. The schools don't have hospital-based training programs, but some of them collaborate with medical schools to give their students more exposure to clinical practice.
In the past optometrists generally limited themselves to evaluating vision, prescribing corrective lenses and diagnosing eye disorders for referral to an ophthalmologist. More recently optometrists in some states have begun to treat less complicated eye diseases with drugs and perform less complex surgical procedures. In the United States there are almost twice as many practicing optometrists as ophthalmologists.
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Opticians
An optician is an eye specialist who fills prescriptions for eyeglasses - assembling, fitting and selling them. Some states also allow opticians to sell and fit contact lenses. The training and licensing of opticians vary from state to state. Most opticians receive on-the-job training with an apprenticeship usually lasting from 2 to 4 years.
Some trainees receive classroom instruction as well. Currently only about half the states require opticians to have a license. The American Board of Opticianry and the National Contact Lens Examiners administer tests to certify the skills of opticians. To find out more, you can check out Getting An Eye Exam.