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How To Know Who To Go To When You Have Something Wrong With Your Eyes, An Ophthalmologist, An Optometrist Or An Optician?

4th February, 2010 - Posted by health news - No Comments

Many people in this country and in other parts of the world, too, need to use the services of a Grand Blanc eye doctor at some moment during 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 bad vision 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 many people get confused by the different types of help they may need or can get. There are 3 kinds of professionals that work in this particular field and they are an ophthalmologist, an optometrist and an optician. This article will discuss the details of each for your better understanding .

First of all, an ophthalmologist is prepared for the medical and surgical care of the eyes and overall 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 in undergraduate college 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 learn to handle issues related to the eye as far as diseases and to perform eye surgeries.

The second kind of eye doctor is known as an optometrist. They have had four years of professional education at a college of optometry where they become doctors of optometry (OD). Some optometrists also participate in an optional one year residency {on top of|after] their degree but they do not go to or graduate from 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 allowed to perform surgical procedures.

The last type of person you may notice in an eye doctor’s office is an optician. An optician has a 2 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 glasses or contact lenses and assisting patients with selection of those two items too . Most 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 prescribed eye prescriptions if needed.

If you just seem to have a small problem with your vision then seeing an optometrist would be a great option. Sometimes a severe eye injury may require surgery or a serious eye condition then you should go to an ophthalmologist. It can be confusing not knowing what these different jobs mean and what their experience is in the type of eye medicine and what they have the training to do and not do. Hopefully, now after reading this article that is now clear and gives you a good understanding.