How Can an Optometrist Assist You?
An optometrist is the eye doctor to visit if you experience any problems with your eyesight. You might either be experiencing blurry vision, blindness, pain, discomfort, short-sightedness, etc. How does the optometrist help you?
1. Diagnosis
The first thing your optometrist does to help you is to correctly diagnose your symptoms. They'll ask you a series of questions to get your medical history. You may also be asked questions concerning your symptoms that may include when they started, if you have travelled recently, if you have changed your diet, if you are taking any medication, if there is a specific time your symptoms worsen, etc. Based on your responses, the optometrists can either carry out a long- or short-sighted test or take a look inside your eye with an ophthalmoscope.
The long- or short-sighted test requires a Snellen chart; the chart contains alphabets and numbers in different sizes. You are expected to stand or sit about six meters from the chart and try to read the letters and numbers. Depending on the letter and number sizes you can read, the optometrist can determine whether you are long or short-sighted.
Some people might have some disabilities that make it impossible for a Snellen chart to be used. The optometrist uses retinoscopy instead, which also detects a refractive error (causes short or long-sightedness).
If the optometrist uses an ophthalmoscope, you're expected to sit on one side of it and look into a lens. The optometrist sits on the opposite end to look into another lens that connects to the lens on your side. The lens can also be connected to a monitor located on the optometrist's side. This test is done to find out whether you have an eye disease. Eye diseases include macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, cataracts, etc.
If you are wondering if these tests are painful, they aren't. Your optometrist might, however, use an eye drop to dilate your eyes for the test carried out using an ophthalmoscope to be effective.
2. Treatment
Treatment for refractive error, which causes short or long-sightedness, is prescription glasses or contact lenses. The optometrist may use a phoropter; this is a piece of equipment that tests out different lenses to find out the lens that precisely corrects your refractive error.
Minor eye diseases that do not require eye surgery can be treated by your optometrist through oral medication or eye drops. Major eye diseases that may require surgery can only be treated by an ophthalmologist, who is the only eye doctor qualified to carry out eye surgery.