What an optometrist does and how he differs from an ophthalmologist

Optometry is a field of knowledge concerned with the process of vision and everything that serves to protect and improve this process.

The first Department of Optometry in Poland was established at the Karol Marcinkowski Medical University in Poznan in 1983, and 11 years later, by order of the rector, the first Postgraduate Study of Optometry was established. Today, optometry is studied as a specialty, in such majors as optics, physics, technical physics and biophysics.

If you want to make sure that the optometrist you are going to see has been carefully educated, that is, has completed his studies, passing the required number of hours of classes, you can ask him whether he is a member of the Polish Society of Optometry and Optometry (PTOO) and what Optometrist Number (NO) he has been given. Optometrists, like other medical and peri-medical professions, still face a lack of regulation of their profession….

What can you count on in an optometrist’s office?

According to his skills acquired during his studies, an optometrist is a specialist in refraction testing and fitting corrective glasses and contact lenses. He is also trained to diagnose and properly manage eye disease, but he is not a doctor like an ophthalmologist, so “proper management” means that he will refer you to one. An optometrist does not treat, but can, for example, deal with rehabilitation of the visual system, that is, he can recommend eye exercises for coordinating eye movements and focusing your vision.

In his own office, an optometrist can:

• Examine your vision with specialized instruments and equipment to measure visual acuity, visual field and other visual functions as well as intraocular pressure. Yes, an optometrist can perform what is called a “computerized eye examination.”
• Select and prescribe any corrective glasses (for distance, nearsighted, astigmatic, progressive, etc.).
• Select and teach you how to insert and care for contact lenses.
• Refer you to an ophthalmologist.
• Enter into cooperation with other specialists who, for example, will co-organize the therapy process for a child in whom visual impairment is only one element in a whole range of developmental disorders.
• Recommend visual exercises that can be carried out at home, which is especially important for pediatric optometry, that is, when diagnosing refractive errors in children.
• Diagnose problems associated with binocular and monocular vision disorders and plan and conduct visual exercises in practice sessions at the office and at home.
• Determine the risk of cataracts, glaucoma or macular degeneration, which is what geriatric optometry specializes in, but any optometrist knows how to make that initial diagnosis requiring an ophthalmologist’s consultation.
• Indicate the onset of the first signs of diabetic retinopathy and recommend a visit to a specialist.
• Make the so-called implant measurement and calculation of the power of the lens that should be implanted in the eye from which the cataract will be removed.

Do you see optometrists at a clinic that specializes in laser vision correction?

A person with a specialization in clinical optometry is prepared to work not only in optical shops, but also in ophthalmology clinics and departments – including clinics that perform laser vision correction or refractive lens replacement.

A clinical optometrist working in an ophthalmic clinic specializing in surgery or microsurgery of the eye can perform some of the qualifying tests before surgery. Among them are:

• Biometry of the eye – In diagnosis before laser vision correction or implantation of artificial lenses
• OCT examination of the eye (optical coherence tomography) – in the diagnosis of retinal diseases, AMD, diabetic maculopathy, before planned cataract removal and artificial lens implantation, in monitoring the course of glaucoma, in monitoring the condition of the cornea before and after laser vision correction procedures
• Corneal topography (computer/digital or manual/manual keratometry) – in the diagnosis before laser correction of vision defects and before the selection of artificial implantable lenses, which are used in the treatment of myopia, farsightedness, astigmatism and cataracts, in the diagnosis of corneal conus
• Tonometry (IOP – intraocular pressure test) – in diagnosis before deciding on laser vision correction
• Keratometry (ophthalmometry, corneal topography) – in the diagnosis of vision defects and astigmatism (the need to select glasses/contact lenses), before (and after) planned laser vision correction procedures/implantation of an artificial lens, in the diagnosis of certain corneal diseases

It may also be the optometrist’s job to talk to the patient about the planned procedure prior to surgery and to explain to the patient any doubts about the laser procedure, where he or she often plans with the ophthalmologist the power of the lens to be implanted during cataract surgery. Sometimes it is also the optometrist who prepares the laser apparatus for the procedure.