Who are optometrists?
An optometrist's job is as varied as the patients receiving treatment daily. The most evident duty is to help patients see better by addressing vision issues. Doctors of optometry are essential healthcare practitioners. They look at, diagnose, treat, and manage eye diseases and problems.
In addition to eye and vision treatment, optometrists play an essential role in a person's general health and well-being by identifying systemic diseases, diagnosing, treating, and managing ocular manifestations of such conditions, and administering immunizations. An optometrist is responsible for:
- Prescribing drugs, vision rehabilitation, spectacles, and contact lenses
- Advising patients on surgical and non-surgical solutions that fulfill their visual demands related to their jobs, hobbies, and way of life
Many optometrists complete a second residency in a specialty field of practice. More than 30,000 optometrists are available to deliver high-quality eye health and vision care services nationwide. They can collaborate with ophthalmologists, general practitioners, neurologists, and endocrinologists.
What are the education, training, and specialties of optometrists?
Optometrists complete about 7-9 years of education and training before they can start practicing. They begin by attending a reputable college to earn a three or four-year bachelor's degree in science or pre-med. Then, they clear the Optometry Admission Test (OAT) to enroll in an optometry school and obtain a 4-year doctoral degree in optometry. Finally, they pass the National Board of Examiners in Optometry (NBEO) exam and secure their state practice license.
Afterward, optometrists can start practicing in different healthcare settings, such as private clinics, eye hospitals, or the ophthalmic industry. However, if they want to opt for additional training, they can complete a specialty fellowship program and choose to become:
- Cornea and contact lenses specialists: These optometrists have in-depth knowledge of using specialized contact lenses to treat corneal conditions affecting the eye's outermost layer.
- Ocular disease specialists: They can diagnose and treat various eye conditions, such as glaucoma, color blindness, lazy eye, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration.
- Low-vision optometrists: They help with severe low-vision problems that cannot improve through standard treatments such as glasses, contact lenses, medications, or surgery.
- Neuro-optometry specialists: They deal with patients experiencing vision problems associated with neurological conditions such as brain trauma, congenital brain defects, and more.
- Behavioral optometrists: They employ vision therapy, including eye exercises, lenses and prisms, and computer-assisted visual activities to improve visual function.
- Pediatric optometrists: They specialize in diagnosing and treating children with vision problems.
- Geriatric optometrists: They work with older adults with age-related eye conditions, including glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, and dry eyes.
- Sports vision optometrists: These specialists focus on protecting and improving the vision of athletes to help enhance their sports performance.
What is the primary difference between optometry and ophthalmology?
Many people confuse optometrists and ophthalmologists, even though both are involved in eye care. There are several common misunderstandings about what each does. While both play an important role in eye care, their training and expertise are quite different.
An optometrist near you is a professional who provides basic vision care, including conducting vision tests, correcting eyesight, and diagnosing and managing vision changes. However, an optometrist is not a medical doctor. They’re licensed to perform eye exams, prescribe corrective lenses, detect certain eye conditions, and prescribe medications for some eye diseases.
On the other hand, ophthalmologists are medical doctors who specialize in eye and vision care. Their training is more extensive than that of optometrists, requiring completion of college followed by at least eight additional years of medical education. Ophthalmologists can treat all eye diseases, perform surgeries, and prescribe contact lenses and glasses to correct vision issues.
In addition to handling all kinds of eye conditions, some ophthalmologists further specialize in particular areas of medical or surgical eye care. These specialists, called subspecialists, undergo one or two additional years of training, known as a fellowship, in specific areas like glaucoma, retina, cornea, or pediatrics. This extra training equips them to handle more complex or specialized eye conditions in certain areas or for specific groups of patients.
What is a comprehensive eye exam?
A complete eye exam with any eye doctor near you will comprise a series of tests to assess your eye health. They will examine your eye health; they can also detect indicators of illnesses such as aneurysms, brain tumors, high blood pressure, and diabetes elsewhere in the body.
Comprehensive eye check-ups are essential for more than just impaired vision. Vision changes throughout time, and more than 16 million Americans suffer from undetected or untreated vision abnormalities that a complete eye exam may have caught.
Every day, asymptomatic patients who come in for comprehensive eye exams are diagnosed with severe eye and health disorders, including glaucoma, macular degeneration, STDs, brain tumors, and other illnesses by some of the leading eye care specialists. A complete eye exam is the medically acknowledged standard for ensuring precise and healthy vision and identifying and treating disorders like glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness. Furthermore, eye exams protect overall health by allowing doctors to discover over 270 significant health disorders, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, autoimmune illnesses, and malignancies. In 2018, optometrists found indications of diabetes in more than 301,000 patients who were unaware of their disease.
Comprehensive eye exams are among the most critical strategies to preserve eyesight and overall health. These exams done by an optometrist go a long way in determining a patient's eye and vision health. The practitioner analyzes your visual acuity through refraction and your eye health. Tests depend on each patient's symptoms and the optometrist's professional judgment.
Find the best optometrist near you in San Jose, CA
One must visit an optometrist if faced with any vision issues. However, selecting the right practitioner can be extremely daunting. It is where Zocdoc is here to help you find the best optometrist near you.
Searching for optometrists on Zocdoc is extremely easy. Type your condition and location in the search box to get a list of top-rated practitioners near you. Moreover, Zocdoc provides you access to detailed profiles of practitioners, including their education details, experience level, affiliations, specialities, location, awards or certifications, insurance accepted and even their spoken languages. You can add medical, dental, and vision insurance plans to your Zocdoc account.
However, when searching for and booking an appointment, you can only use one insurance plan at a time. If you have more than one plan, you can mention your secondary insurance in the notes section for the provider during the final step of booking.
If your provider uses Zocdoc’s Intake forms, you can also add your secondary insurance when filling out the forms online. If you have more insurance-related questions, you can check Zocdoc’s insurance page.
In addition, you can also read the verified patient reviews before deciding on the practitioner.
With Zocdoc, you can book both in-person and online consultations with the chosen eye doctor near you. All appointment bookings are speedy, secure, and 100% free.
Vision issues in California and the US
According to a study by the USC Gayle and Edward Roski Eye Institute, visual impairment in preschool children will rise by 26% over the next 45 years, affecting over 220,000 children. Multiracial American children will experience the highest percentage rise (137%) in visual impairment cases between 2015 and 2060, according to USC researchers, and Hispanic white children will be the largest demographic group in terms of absolute numbers of patients (44% of the total). Meanwhile, the relative reduction will be most significant among white American children (21%). Estimates suggest that California, Texas, and Florida have the most children with vision impairment in the following decades.
For California, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that over 760,000 people have excessive trouble with their vision, even with glasses. A large portion of people (59%) over the age of 65 have high vision impairment and reported a falling incidence in the previous year.
Sources
Insight
American Optometric Association
USC News
Centers for Disease Control And Prevention
WebMD
Verywell Health
Dr. Ryan Corte
Medical Eye Center
