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Sight may be one of the most important senses, if not the most important. Without it, you couldn’t watch movies, enjoy a sunset, drive a car, or look at the faces of your loved ones. In spite of that, it is also taken for granted most of the time, and it shouldn’t be so, because the eyes are actually susceptible to a string of diseases and medical conditions that range from uncomfortable to causing loss of eyesight. However, this disorders are by no means irreparable. Here at visionsourceinc.com you can find the most encompassing information about opticians, optometry, ophthalmology, eye surgery and more.
Opticians
Opticians are those individuals that have been trained to issue prescriptions for eye correction in the medicine field. Usually, opticians make and dispense eyeglasses and other forms of eye correction, but do not perform tests, which are carried out by experts in optometry or ophthalmology. People involved in the design and manufacture of optical devices are sometimes also describe as opticians, although this labor is closer to the field of optical engineering. Some of the corrective devices that opticians design, fit and dispense include contact lenses, spectacle lenses, low vision aids and ophthalmic prosthetics. Opticians may work independently from optometrists and ophthalmologists or in a joint practice; in hospitals, eye care centers or retail stores. However, like any other professional in a medicine field, opticians must meet practice and training standards, keep up with the latest advances, and hold professional liability insurance. Opticians work with feedback from the patient regarding use of the appliance, level of activity, necessity for protection from radiant energy or projectiles, as well as taking into account eye and facial features, in order for opticians to come up with the more appropriate eye correction device. Opticians also rely of several pieces of equipment, such as a lensometer (to verify the correct prescription in a pair of eyeglasses), a pupilometer (to measure pupillary distance), and a keratometer (to measure the curvature of the anterior surface of the cornea), among other instruments that opticians use. Some opticians may also design special devices to correct cosmetic, traumatic and anatomical defects. These appliances are called artificial eyes. Opticians can design a visual prosthesis or bionic eye to restore functional vision. Other opticians may also dispense an ocular prosthesis, commonly known as glass eye.
Optometry
Optometry is health care branch that is concerned with the eyes and eye related structures. Optometry also deals with vision, visual systems and vision information processing. Optometry experts are trained in the diagnosing and treatment of eye diseases and infections. Among the duties of doctors of optometry there is examining patients’ eyes for nearsightedness or farsightedness, testing depth and color perception and eye focusing and coordination abilities. Optometry specialists can prescribe eyeglasses or contact lenses, or provide other treatments like vision therapy or low vision rehabilitation. Most doctors of optometry work in a general practice as primary care optometrists, others however, specialize in a specific field such as contact lenses, geriatrics, pediatrics or vision therapy. Optometry is different from ophthalmology in that ophthalmologists practice eye surgery in addition to diagnosing and treating eye diseases and injuries, although both can examine eyes and prescribe eyeglasses.
Ophthalmology and Eye Surgery
Ophthalmology is the medicine field that is involved with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. Since ophthalmology experts can both diagnose eye disease and perform eye operations, they are considered surgical as well as medical specialists. Ophthalmology comprises several sub-specialties that have to do with specific diseases, or with diseases of specific areas of the eye. These include anterior segment surgery, cataract, cornea (ocular surface and external disease), glaucoma, medical retina, neuro ophthalmology, ocular oncology, oculoplastics and orbit surgery, ophthalmic pathology, pediatric ophthalmology, strabismus, refractive surgery, uveitis and vitreo-retinal surgery. Refractive eye surgery is made up of keratomilleusis (reshapes the surface of the cornea to change optical power), automated lamellar keratoplasty, laser assisted in-situ keratomileusis, laser assisted sub-epithelial keratomilleusis, photorefractive keratectomy, conductive keratoplasty (uses radio frequency waves to reduce corneal collagen), limbal relaxing incisions, astigmatic keratotomy, radial keratotomy, hexagonal keratotomy, epikeratophakia, intracorneal rings, implantable contact lenses, presbyopia reversal, anterior ciliary sclerotomy, laser reversal of presbyopia and scleral expansion brands.
Vitreo-retinal surgery refractive surgery procedures as well as corneal transplant surgery (used to remove a diseased cornea to replace it with a donor’s), penetrating keratoplasty, keratoprosthesis, phototherapeutic keratotectomy, pterygium excision, corneal tattoing, and osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis. Other types of eye surgery are laser surgery, cataract surgery, glaucoma surgery, corneal surgery, eye muscle surgery, oculoplastic surgery and orbital surgery.
By browsing through our website you can be sure to find information on further ophthalmology related subjects, such as astigmatism, contact lenses, eyeglasses, glaucoma, macular degeneration and myopia, so feel free to look around and gather as much knowledge as you possibly can about that all important and useful organ, the eyes.