People who complain of certain eye problems will usually see their primary care doctor or emergency room physician. These doctors can diagnose some of the diseases and probably treat some of them. However, much of the treatment is reliant on an eye doctor. If the patient needs glasses, they will have to go to an ophthalmologist for the full examination. However, there are many reasons why a person would need an eye doctor, and these will be discussed.
There are many things to ask to assess someone’s eye condition. It is important to do a thorough interview as well as examination to get the correct diagnosis. A patient might be asked depending on their condition these questions. Do they have vision loss? Is it painful? Does it look like there is a curtain coming down over the eye? Is the pain sudden in onset, or has it been there a long time?
There are many reasons as to why someone would have vision loss, eye pain, or a headache coinciding this eye problems. A thorough examination needs to be done to diagnose the problem. Looking at the patient or inspecting them can give many clues before other evaluations are done. A traumatic injury would be obvious, but other evaluation would be needed to make sure there is no vision loss.
Other serious eye problems include diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, detached retina, cataracts. Vision loss due to high blood pressure can be a serious emergency. However, they also treat many patients who are not emergent and need only new glasses.
Surgical procedures of the eye are also common duties for the eye doctor. They can go into the eye and do an exploration to assess the problem, or they can do definitive treatment. Surgical procedures done by an ophthalmologist are cataract removal, treatment of certain types of glaucoma, and surgery for a detached retina.
Another reason a primary doctor would refer there patient to an ophthalmologist is that they need certain treatment with a medication. Some drugs that eye doctors use are good for treating some conditions, however, if that drug is not monitored closely, permanent eye damage could occur. This would in the end need an ophthalmologist’s referral. So, it is better to let the eye doctor prescribe it to prevent complications.
Going to an eye doctor is usually because their is some problem more challenging than routine eye problems. However, eye doctors see plenty of patients to give them new prescriptions for their eyeglasses. Eye doctors see many disorders which require surgical treatment because this is their specialty. Other doctors can not do invasive procedures like ophthalmologists.
There might be confusion between an eye doctor or ophthalmologist and an optometrist. As described above, the eye doctor can handle many serious diseases of the eye including emergencies and surgical procedures. The optometrist is a common person trained to assess the vision of a person. They can write prescriptions for new glasses, and they may be able to assess several diseases. However, they in turn would need to consult a doctor for more concerning conditions like glaucoma.