I thought that today might be a good day to sit down and discuss something important with you. There are many things of importance in life. When you meet someone new and you want to know what's important about them you may begin to ask questions of importance. First you'll inquire of their name. This is a simple yet necessary question so that you may build up a confidence in which you may dive into more important matters.
The second question you may ask is, "how are you doing today?" This question, though seeming to be a simple courtesy, is in fact key to the interpretation of much of the upcoming important answers. Knowing the current state of someone will allow an understanding of what reasonings and explanations comes out of them. An answer along the lines of "good" or "fine" is suitable to suggest that all such other important questions will be alloted suitable answers of acceptable quality.
And now to properly begin this post I'd like to be clear concerning my own name and state. I'm Bradly Larson, and I am doing well. As well as I have previously implied in my first introduction concerning the "good afternoon" which I extended to you.
Now of all the many questions which might branch off of such an introduction from someone who you have not met, might I suggest that one of the most common if not most defining questions ever asked to a person is, "what do you do?" With a name, you discover initial identity, but with this question you uncover the most up-to-date identity. This answer will help you interpret so many more important things concerning this previously unknown individual.
And now we can go back to the very first thing I said to you today. The very important thing that I had on my mind to discuss with you today is what I do, and what I will do. I'm going to be an optometrist, and it wouldn't surprise me if there's at least some honest confusion if not a little misunderstanding concerning what this really means.
I couldn't help but attend to the many ideas of what an optometrist is. So forgive me for the trendy all too frequently used presentation:
What society thinks I do:
What Ophthalmologists think I do:
What my familiy thinks I do:
What I think I do:
What I really do:
Ok jokes and stereotypes aside here's the truth.
An optometrist is... well back to the name. All optometrists have OD written after their names. This stands for Oculus (Eye) Doctor. Optometrists are trained to be eye doctors that specialize in vision.
So what's with the simple stereotype of "what's better 1 or 2?" Well that was your daddy's optometrist. You see like many professions, optometry is legislated. Years ago optometrists were only allowed to sell glasses. Later they began refracting (finding your prescription). Later they invented contacts and they have continued to move into entering the health of the eye. Currently in some states optometrists are performing eye injections, cutting off lumps and bumps, prescribing topical and oral drugs, managing glaucoma, macular degeneration, Lasik, and the list goes on and on. The scope of what an optometrist can do has been expanding more and more into the field of Ophthalmology, and they don't like that one bit.
What do Ophthalmologists do?
Ophthalmologists have the letters MD after their names, which stands for Medical Doctor. Their education focuses on the medical side of the eye instead of the vision. They are mostly surgeons (while there are some who do still perform refractions and deal in primary care of the eye). Ophthalmologists perform cataract surgeries, eye injections, Lasik, and deal with rare eye disorders and eye trauma that require special surgeries.
Ophthalmologists say that optometrists are stupid and should never touch the all gloriously complicated eye ball. Here is a comparison of their education.
Optometrist: 4+ years Bachelors degree + medical prerequisites
Plus 4 years of Optometry school (2 basic medical academics +2 clinical/ocular academic years)
It is optional for optometrists to go on and do a 1 year residency in order to obtain a specialty in for example low vision, pediatrics, pathology, specialty contacts etc...
In contrast and Ophthalmologist: take the SAME 4+ years Bachelors degree + the same medical prerequisites.
Plus 4 years of medical school (the SAME first 2 years of medical academics + 2 more years of medical plus clinical academics) None of which have any focus on the Eye nor on vision.
After all this the Ophthalmologist must begin a 3-4 year residency where they begin to learn about the eye. They are placed in a clinical setting where they begin observing and practicing surgery hand in hand with an attending established Ophthalmologist.
Ophthalmologists argue that optometrists are so naive that they'd kill you if they were allowed to inject you with any kind of drug. However dentists receive an almost identical education and yet they perform injections on nearly every patient. In reality, it all comes down to money. There's money to be made in the eye business. (99.9% of people would rather lose a tooth than an eye)
I'm going to graduate from Optometry school in 2014. I will be part of a new breed of optometrists which will not be known for asking "which is better 1 or 2?" I will be dealing with maintaining healthy vision in conjunction with managing disease. This is called the new medical model of optometry.
And as optometrists evolve so might opticians. We haven't talked about opticians. They are only allowed to make, sell, and fit glasses. The day may come when they are allowed to refract, and when that happens, optometrists will have to survive by becoming the only existing professional who can link ocular vision with ocular health. Ophthalmologists are notorious for prescribing the worst glasses, and they implant monocular IOL's into as many medicare and medicaid patients as they can because it's the most profitable. They fish for surgery because that's where the money is. Someone has to be primarily responsible for vision, and in the United States of America the profession that centralizes in this is the optometrists. We are living in a time where there is a tremendous difference amongst optometrists who have been practicing for 30 years, 15 years, and the optometry I've been describing to you today is mostly known by those who've been practicing for less than 7 or so years.
I'm sure that I'll explain more in the future about my profession, but for now I'll conclude this short introduction of a very complicated topic.
PS... with obamacare and the up and coming most unhealthy Americans that ever lived, medically practicing optometry just might be the only answer to eye care in the overwhelming problems of socialized medicine. (optometrists outnumber ophthalmologists 4 to 1)
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